Hogwarts Online
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Harry Potter › Het - Male/Female › Snape/Hermione
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
14
Views:
4,592
Reviews:
39
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
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Category:
Harry Potter › Het - Male/Female › Snape/Hermione
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
14
Views:
4,592
Reviews:
39
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Who!
*
DISCLAIMER: i own nothing; standard disclaimers apply
*
Severus walked the long, hidden hallway in the old Malfoy Manor. Mr. Steneroff, Ivan as he asked to be called, was walking closely behind him, in awe of the hidden tunnel he didn’t know existed in his new house. Dark wards blocked the entrance and Snape had dismantled them.
“I had no idea this was even here,” Ivan said, shaking his head in disbelief.
“That was the intention of the previous owner,” Snape replied, his face and voice neutral. Finally, he stopped at a spot on the wall, raised his wand, and whispered an incantation as he tapped spots on the brick wall. Ivan watched in wonderment as a few bricks slid apart, revealing a hidden compartment. Snape reached inside and pulled out three leather bound books, the only markings on them were silver embossed Malfoy family crests on the spines.
He slipped the books into his cloak pocket, looking down the hall, and he suddenly recognized where he was. Oh, he had been here many times with Lucius back in the day, hiding away or retrieving this or that, but until he saw Hermione’s memories, he had no clue of the other secret that this place held. He was at the end of what appeared to be a dead end, until his mind flashed the hidden way way from Hermione’s memory. ’This is the entrance to the dungeons’. Slowly, he turned and began feeling along the bricks at the end of the hall.
Ivan watched as he began to feel around the wall. He was just about to ask Snape what he was looking for when he saw the man disappear. He blinked a few times, to make sure he really did see what he just saw, and then followed Snape’s lead. Feeling along the wall, his hand finally slipped through what was obviously an illusion door. Taking a deep breath, he stepped through.
On the other side, Ivan’s eyes widened in horror at what he saw. Snape stood statue still, staring. In the middle of the room stood a huge box frame, covered in blood. On the floor was a silver tray with bloody razors. Realization dawned on Ivan about what this room was used for and his stomach lurched. He ran to the corner and retched his lunch. After he dry-heaved a few times, he felt a handkerchief pressed into his hand.
“Are you all right?” Snape asked him, but all Ivan could do was nod as he stood back up. He pulled out his wand and cleaned up the mess he just made in the corner, before steadying himself to turn around and face what he had seen.
“What… why… who?” Ivan couldn’t even complete any of the sentences as his pale face took in the room around him.
“Torture, because they were sick, and I can’t believe they left it all here,” was his answer. Snape shook his head as he saw the reality of what Hermione had been put through. He could see her body suspended in that repulsive box.
“How? How did you know this was here?” Ivan asked, throwing Snape a slightly baffled yet accusatory look. Snape’s first instinct was to let loose his anger on the man, but he took a deep, steadying breath instead. Then he thought about just ignoring him, but realized how this must look to him. A part of him was wondrous at the man’s apparent naïveté.
“Didn’t you know whose house this was when you bought it? You acquired it through the ministry auctions, did you not? Did those bastards at the ministry withhold the little tidbit that this was the Malfoy’s estate? Did you not know what that family had done?” Snape’s voice stayed steady and low, a little threatening even, as he barraged poor Mr. Steneroff.
“I knew,” Ivan replied, “but believe me when I say I assumed that things had been cleaned out before we moved in. My wife and I discussed it thoroughly before we bought this place. We weren’t ignorant, as you seem to be intoning, but you still haven’t answered my question.”
Snape sighed and turned to look back at the spot of his lover’s torture before he answered.
“It is common knowledge now that I was a spy against the Dark Lord before his fall. I was close… with Lucius Malfoy and privy to many of his secrets. The reason this wasn’t cleaned out is because no one knew it was here. The first entrance we came though was well guarded by dark wards, made invisible to those who weren’t looking for it. This,” and here he swept his hand dramatically, indicating the room and its contents, “I didn’t know was here until recently. Someone I know recently told me of her torture in this very room. She was strung up in that very box.
“It wasn’t until I was turning to leave after recovering the books that the thought struck me and I looked for the doorway I suspected was there. As Malfoy never felt like sharing this place with me, thank Merlin, I acted on a suspicion.”
Ivan, feeling rather chastised at this revelation, nodded in understanding. His eyes riveted to the blood covered razors and shivered. It was one thing to look at these things and have the imaginings of what had happened down here. It was entirely another to be someone who lived through it.
“Professor Snape, what should I do with this?” Ivan’s voice was pleading. He didn’t want his children to accidentally stumble across any of this and he honestly didn’t want to sleep in his room knowing this was still down here.
“I would call the Ministry. A team of Aurors will come in and clean this up. I disabled all of the dark wards so the entrance to the corridor will be visible now. I suggest warding it until the Aurors get here. It will do no good for it to be accessible lest one of your children stumble into it.”
Ivan nodded and turned to where he came in, feeling along the bricks to leave. Snape stood there for a moment longer, seeing the images of his Hermione strung up in that box. His hand patted the books in his cloak and he turned to leave. No reason to get maudlin over a past I can’t change, he thought. He may have the means to correct the now.
Hermione was thrilled when Severus had returned, but he seemed a bit distant. She ran with the assumption that he was just preoccupied with whatever errand it was that he ran today. At least she hoped that was what it was. Her logical mind telling her that he couldn’t have realized he didn’t have feelings for her after an afternoon away. An emotional, illogical part was antsy at the thought that maybe he had. Currently, they scroscross from each other at the kitchen table, silently eating their dinner with the evening news on in the background.
“Severus?” she asked timidly, trying to steady her voice. “Is everything alright?”
“Yes, why do you ask?”
“You seem reserved this evening. I was just concerned.”
Damn! Was he that transparent? He saw the nervous look on her face and wondered if she thought his mood was due to her. Well, his mood was due to her, but not in the way she probably ght.ght. He hadn’t told her what he had done today because he didn’t want to get her hopes up in case the books were fruitless.
“I’m sorry, love,” he said. “I’m just distracted I suppose,” he shrugged, hoping that would be an adequate answer. Thanking the heavens that she had grown out of her need to know EVERYTHING, she dropped it with a small nod and decided instead to discuss where he was in his work on the web site as her side was almost done.
After dinner, Snape forwent their usual lab activities.
“I’m just a bit tired from running around today,” he said as he pulled her into a reassuring hug, running his fingers up and down her spine. “I’ll see you in bed… later,” he whispered into her ear.
“Mmm,” she hummed against his throat. “Alright. Later it is.”
She didn’t fully believe his story, but decided to not press it tonight.
Snape went upstairs and locked himself into his room. He waved his wand to set a magical timer to go off about an hour before they would usually go to bed. It wouldn’t do for her to find him locked up here. He pulled the Malfoy books out and started reading.
Hermione went to work on her research, but she was distracted. She wondered what Severus was up to. Shaking her head, she decided it wasn’t her place to dwell on it. ‘We’ve been living together and sharing everything for weeks now. The man deserves some alone time,’ she thought.
The last thing she wanted to do was to appear needy. Well, she did need him, but she wasn’t needy. It was just so hard trying to decipher him and be able to back off easily with this all being so new and shiny. Soon, he would go back to his life at Hogwarts and while they would continue to see each other, it wouldn’t be the same.
Again, she shook her head. Of course it won’t be the same as it is now, but they will have a new relationship like most couples have. If anything, the current situation was unique and it all happened so fast. The break they had today and tonight couldn’t do anything other than help as she realized she would have to get used to the idea of being on her own most of the time again.
She smiled to herself, thinking about how it will be when he’s gone. Not that the thought made her happy, but they would owl notes back and forth. The expectation of waiting each week before they could see each other again would mount, and their time together would be just that much sweeter.
They could go on dates, and the thought of Severus picking her up at heor, or, with flowers in his hand made her laugh out loud. No, surely it wouldn’t be like that. Severus is much more imaginative.
Oh, as good as their sex life is currently, she could only imagine the first frantic coupling after being apart for a week or more and the thought made her shiver. The anticipation that would build in them both would cause them both burst.
She closed her eyes and pictured herself opening the door after a long two weeks apart. Severus would barely make it into the door before pinning her against the door jam and pressing in for insistent kisses; hot and wet. Neither would settle for waiting for permission as they would press their tongues into each others’ mouth. Hands would roam and fingers would thread through hair and they would press and pull their bodies into the other.
Hermione felt the heat pool in between her legs and her breath hitched. She slowly lifted her skirt up slid her hand into her panties as her fantasy continued to play out in her head. She was already wet, and traced her fingers around her folds before bringing a finger to her clit and began to stroke, her other hand kneading her breasts through her top.
She envisioned Severus grasping her arse and pulling her up to meet the heat of his erection, rubbing it against her. She would pull her legs around his waist and rock her center against him. He would groan against her mouth and then would bring their bodies in from the door, kicking the door shut and slamming her bodily against the wall, diving in for another kiss. The kiss would not be sweet and gentle or soft and loving at all. It would be brutal and desperate and hot and sloppy. Teeth would clash and she would pull his hair in ecstasy while they both would continue to rub against each others’ heat.
Hermione leaned back against the lab table and hiked up one foot onto the stool beside her. The hand that had been tormenting her breasts moved down and she plunged two fingers into herself, causing a moan to be torn from her throat. Instinctually, the finger rubbing against her swollen nub began to move faster as her knees bent and unbent as she rode her fingers.
She visualized Severus lifting her skirt and ripping her underwear from her body. Then he would unbuckle his trousers, freeing his magnificent cock. With no fanfare, no need for waiting any longer, he would lift her and she would slam down onto him. They would gasp at that initial joining, but there would be no pause. She would ride him madly, her head and back pressed hard against the wall by his weight, his teeth biting into her neck, and her fingernails raking against his clothed back. Up and down they would slide and they would moan and they would scream.
And then everything would explode.
Her body shook with the force of her climax, her knee going weak as all of her weight had been on one leg. She road her orgasm out before slowly removing her fingers, then moving her foot from the stool and placing it on the floor. Her legs felt like jelly and she felt herself sink to her knees onto the stone of her lab.
Deep, slow breaths were taken and her heart rate way above normal, trying to slow down. ‘Wow,’ thought Hermione, ‘what a fantasy!’
Without warning, one last image of her fantasy flashed through her mind. She saw the two of them dropped on the floor, tangled in each other, breathing hard and heart rates like hers was now. Their arms wrapped around each other, sated smiles on their faces. She could hear herself saying to Severus, “Well, hello to you, too.”
Hermione smiled and decided that she would make that fantasy a reality even if it meant her throwing Severus inhe dhe door jam.
…which induces the victim to relive a reality as a nightmare every night, waking with the physical manifestations of the original reality.
Snape looked up and realized he found it. At least he believed this to be it, hoped this was it. Looking back to the book he saw it; the counter-curse. Good gods, it can’t be that easy with nothing to develop, nothing to research? He read further and discovered that the curse was only meant to be a short term punishment that, when left in place for an extended period of time, it would drive the victim to madness!
The text listed that the duration to madness to be between a few weeks to several months. There was no documented case of anyone lasting longer than seven months before madness set in. How had Hermione survived this long? It explained her solitude and eventual estrangement from her friends.
Snape suspected that the distance between her and her friends wasn’t just them being too busy for her. She had probably been inadvertently pushing people away for years! She never told anyone her secret. It explained her demeanor and spirit being stunted, though she still showed signs of former self. Maybe it is because she shared her secret with him that she hadn’t pushed him away? He shook himself out of his reverie. All theory, and all moot. What he needed to do was see if this counter-curse worked and then hope that continuous full nights of sleep with no open wounds to wake up to will bring back full-force the spirit that he catches glimpses of.
He looked up at the timer he had set and noticed it was close to going off. He waved it away and with book in hand he bolted out of the door. Before he could make it to the stairs, he heard the shower running in Hermione’s room. Without a second thought, he took off for her room and ran in.
“Hermione, you almost done in there,” he was saying to the bathroom door.
“Severus? What? I couldn’t hear you over the water.” Snape opened the door and poked his head in.
“I asked if you were almost done.”
“Actually I just got in.” She peered at him from around the shower curtain giving him a wicked grin and said “Would you care to join me?”
Oh, yes.
Shower over, they sat together on her bed, Severus in his pajamas, Hermione still wrapped up in her towel. Severus wouldn’t let her get dressed and wouldn’t tell her why.
Severus pulled a book out from the pocket of his robe and held it up for her to see. The Malfoy crest was clearly evident on the spine of the book, and a chill ran so hard through her body that she jerked uncontrollably once. Her mr usr used to call that feeling ‘someone walking over your grave.’
In typical Snape fashion, with no preamble and no dissembling, Severus dropped a bombshell on her.
“I think I found the counter-curse.”
Hermione had a million questions floating through head. ad. Questions such as ‘is that where you went today?’, and ‘are you sure?’, and ‘what if it doesn’t work?’, and ‘are you bloody sure!?’ among others. But all she could do was open her mouth for a couple of seconds before closing it again. She repeated the process twice more before Severus put her out of her misery.
“I retrieved several books from Malfoy Manor today. I didn’t tell you because, honestly, I thought it would take longer digging through three texts, much of it archaic dark magic, before I found anything, and then possibly some time longer to work out a counter-curse.” He noticed the look on her face and the glassy quality of her eyes and he pulled her into a tight embrace.
“Hermione, I don’t want to get your hopes up, but will you let me try this? If I’m not correct in my belief that I found the correct curse, it won’t cause any damage to try and I can go back to the books and research further. But if I’m correct…” he trailed off.
Hermione took several deep breaths and sucked back any tears. She disentangled herself from Severus and nodded, not trusting her own voice. He walked her to the middle of the room and gently removed the towel from her body. Her eyes closed in a moment of self-consciousness before opening them back up and looking squarely at Severus to let him know that she was ready.
He stepped back, his wand at the ready. She felt the air crackle and set herself firmly, her breaths coming in quick and sharp. Just when she thought she might be close to hyperventilating, she quiet literally felt his voice rip through her body.
“Cesso repetitio insomnium, restituo pacalis somnio!”
*
a/n: yes, i\'m behind. good news is that i\'m behind because i recently picked up some (paying) side projects, so that\'s a good thing for my unemployed butt! :)
the last line roughly translates to \"cease repition of bad dreams, restore peaceful sleep.\" hey! no one EVER said i was above being utterly cheesy! :D
*
DISCLAIMER: i own nothing; standard disclaimers apply
*
Severus walked the long, hidden hallway in the old Malfoy Manor. Mr. Steneroff, Ivan as he asked to be called, was walking closely behind him, in awe of the hidden tunnel he didn’t know existed in his new house. Dark wards blocked the entrance and Snape had dismantled them.
“I had no idea this was even here,” Ivan said, shaking his head in disbelief.
“That was the intention of the previous owner,” Snape replied, his face and voice neutral. Finally, he stopped at a spot on the wall, raised his wand, and whispered an incantation as he tapped spots on the brick wall. Ivan watched in wonderment as a few bricks slid apart, revealing a hidden compartment. Snape reached inside and pulled out three leather bound books, the only markings on them were silver embossed Malfoy family crests on the spines.
He slipped the books into his cloak pocket, looking down the hall, and he suddenly recognized where he was. Oh, he had been here many times with Lucius back in the day, hiding away or retrieving this or that, but until he saw Hermione’s memories, he had no clue of the other secret that this place held. He was at the end of what appeared to be a dead end, until his mind flashed the hidden way way from Hermione’s memory. ’This is the entrance to the dungeons’. Slowly, he turned and began feeling along the bricks at the end of the hall.
Ivan watched as he began to feel around the wall. He was just about to ask Snape what he was looking for when he saw the man disappear. He blinked a few times, to make sure he really did see what he just saw, and then followed Snape’s lead. Feeling along the wall, his hand finally slipped through what was obviously an illusion door. Taking a deep breath, he stepped through.
On the other side, Ivan’s eyes widened in horror at what he saw. Snape stood statue still, staring. In the middle of the room stood a huge box frame, covered in blood. On the floor was a silver tray with bloody razors. Realization dawned on Ivan about what this room was used for and his stomach lurched. He ran to the corner and retched his lunch. After he dry-heaved a few times, he felt a handkerchief pressed into his hand.
“Are you all right?” Snape asked him, but all Ivan could do was nod as he stood back up. He pulled out his wand and cleaned up the mess he just made in the corner, before steadying himself to turn around and face what he had seen.
“What… why… who?” Ivan couldn’t even complete any of the sentences as his pale face took in the room around him.
“Torture, because they were sick, and I can’t believe they left it all here,” was his answer. Snape shook his head as he saw the reality of what Hermione had been put through. He could see her body suspended in that repulsive box.
“How? How did you know this was here?” Ivan asked, throwing Snape a slightly baffled yet accusatory look. Snape’s first instinct was to let loose his anger on the man, but he took a deep, steadying breath instead. Then he thought about just ignoring him, but realized how this must look to him. A part of him was wondrous at the man’s apparent naïveté.
“Didn’t you know whose house this was when you bought it? You acquired it through the ministry auctions, did you not? Did those bastards at the ministry withhold the little tidbit that this was the Malfoy’s estate? Did you not know what that family had done?” Snape’s voice stayed steady and low, a little threatening even, as he barraged poor Mr. Steneroff.
“I knew,” Ivan replied, “but believe me when I say I assumed that things had been cleaned out before we moved in. My wife and I discussed it thoroughly before we bought this place. We weren’t ignorant, as you seem to be intoning, but you still haven’t answered my question.”
Snape sighed and turned to look back at the spot of his lover’s torture before he answered.
“It is common knowledge now that I was a spy against the Dark Lord before his fall. I was close… with Lucius Malfoy and privy to many of his secrets. The reason this wasn’t cleaned out is because no one knew it was here. The first entrance we came though was well guarded by dark wards, made invisible to those who weren’t looking for it. This,” and here he swept his hand dramatically, indicating the room and its contents, “I didn’t know was here until recently. Someone I know recently told me of her torture in this very room. She was strung up in that very box.
“It wasn’t until I was turning to leave after recovering the books that the thought struck me and I looked for the doorway I suspected was there. As Malfoy never felt like sharing this place with me, thank Merlin, I acted on a suspicion.”
Ivan, feeling rather chastised at this revelation, nodded in understanding. His eyes riveted to the blood covered razors and shivered. It was one thing to look at these things and have the imaginings of what had happened down here. It was entirely another to be someone who lived through it.
“Professor Snape, what should I do with this?” Ivan’s voice was pleading. He didn’t want his children to accidentally stumble across any of this and he honestly didn’t want to sleep in his room knowing this was still down here.
“I would call the Ministry. A team of Aurors will come in and clean this up. I disabled all of the dark wards so the entrance to the corridor will be visible now. I suggest warding it until the Aurors get here. It will do no good for it to be accessible lest one of your children stumble into it.”
Ivan nodded and turned to where he came in, feeling along the bricks to leave. Snape stood there for a moment longer, seeing the images of his Hermione strung up in that box. His hand patted the books in his cloak and he turned to leave. No reason to get maudlin over a past I can’t change, he thought. He may have the means to correct the now.
Hermione was thrilled when Severus had returned, but he seemed a bit distant. She ran with the assumption that he was just preoccupied with whatever errand it was that he ran today. At least she hoped that was what it was. Her logical mind telling her that he couldn’t have realized he didn’t have feelings for her after an afternoon away. An emotional, illogical part was antsy at the thought that maybe he had. Currently, they scroscross from each other at the kitchen table, silently eating their dinner with the evening news on in the background.
“Severus?” she asked timidly, trying to steady her voice. “Is everything alright?”
“Yes, why do you ask?”
“You seem reserved this evening. I was just concerned.”
Damn! Was he that transparent? He saw the nervous look on her face and wondered if she thought his mood was due to her. Well, his mood was due to her, but not in the way she probably ght.ght. He hadn’t told her what he had done today because he didn’t want to get her hopes up in case the books were fruitless.
“I’m sorry, love,” he said. “I’m just distracted I suppose,” he shrugged, hoping that would be an adequate answer. Thanking the heavens that she had grown out of her need to know EVERYTHING, she dropped it with a small nod and decided instead to discuss where he was in his work on the web site as her side was almost done.
After dinner, Snape forwent their usual lab activities.
“I’m just a bit tired from running around today,” he said as he pulled her into a reassuring hug, running his fingers up and down her spine. “I’ll see you in bed… later,” he whispered into her ear.
“Mmm,” she hummed against his throat. “Alright. Later it is.”
She didn’t fully believe his story, but decided to not press it tonight.
Snape went upstairs and locked himself into his room. He waved his wand to set a magical timer to go off about an hour before they would usually go to bed. It wouldn’t do for her to find him locked up here. He pulled the Malfoy books out and started reading.
Hermione went to work on her research, but she was distracted. She wondered what Severus was up to. Shaking her head, she decided it wasn’t her place to dwell on it. ‘We’ve been living together and sharing everything for weeks now. The man deserves some alone time,’ she thought.
The last thing she wanted to do was to appear needy. Well, she did need him, but she wasn’t needy. It was just so hard trying to decipher him and be able to back off easily with this all being so new and shiny. Soon, he would go back to his life at Hogwarts and while they would continue to see each other, it wouldn’t be the same.
Again, she shook her head. Of course it won’t be the same as it is now, but they will have a new relationship like most couples have. If anything, the current situation was unique and it all happened so fast. The break they had today and tonight couldn’t do anything other than help as she realized she would have to get used to the idea of being on her own most of the time again.
She smiled to herself, thinking about how it will be when he’s gone. Not that the thought made her happy, but they would owl notes back and forth. The expectation of waiting each week before they could see each other again would mount, and their time together would be just that much sweeter.
They could go on dates, and the thought of Severus picking her up at heor, or, with flowers in his hand made her laugh out loud. No, surely it wouldn’t be like that. Severus is much more imaginative.
Oh, as good as their sex life is currently, she could only imagine the first frantic coupling after being apart for a week or more and the thought made her shiver. The anticipation that would build in them both would cause them both burst.
She closed her eyes and pictured herself opening the door after a long two weeks apart. Severus would barely make it into the door before pinning her against the door jam and pressing in for insistent kisses; hot and wet. Neither would settle for waiting for permission as they would press their tongues into each others’ mouth. Hands would roam and fingers would thread through hair and they would press and pull their bodies into the other.
Hermione felt the heat pool in between her legs and her breath hitched. She slowly lifted her skirt up slid her hand into her panties as her fantasy continued to play out in her head. She was already wet, and traced her fingers around her folds before bringing a finger to her clit and began to stroke, her other hand kneading her breasts through her top.
She envisioned Severus grasping her arse and pulling her up to meet the heat of his erection, rubbing it against her. She would pull her legs around his waist and rock her center against him. He would groan against her mouth and then would bring their bodies in from the door, kicking the door shut and slamming her bodily against the wall, diving in for another kiss. The kiss would not be sweet and gentle or soft and loving at all. It would be brutal and desperate and hot and sloppy. Teeth would clash and she would pull his hair in ecstasy while they both would continue to rub against each others’ heat.
Hermione leaned back against the lab table and hiked up one foot onto the stool beside her. The hand that had been tormenting her breasts moved down and she plunged two fingers into herself, causing a moan to be torn from her throat. Instinctually, the finger rubbing against her swollen nub began to move faster as her knees bent and unbent as she rode her fingers.
She visualized Severus lifting her skirt and ripping her underwear from her body. Then he would unbuckle his trousers, freeing his magnificent cock. With no fanfare, no need for waiting any longer, he would lift her and she would slam down onto him. They would gasp at that initial joining, but there would be no pause. She would ride him madly, her head and back pressed hard against the wall by his weight, his teeth biting into her neck, and her fingernails raking against his clothed back. Up and down they would slide and they would moan and they would scream.
And then everything would explode.
Her body shook with the force of her climax, her knee going weak as all of her weight had been on one leg. She road her orgasm out before slowly removing her fingers, then moving her foot from the stool and placing it on the floor. Her legs felt like jelly and she felt herself sink to her knees onto the stone of her lab.
Deep, slow breaths were taken and her heart rate way above normal, trying to slow down. ‘Wow,’ thought Hermione, ‘what a fantasy!’
Without warning, one last image of her fantasy flashed through her mind. She saw the two of them dropped on the floor, tangled in each other, breathing hard and heart rates like hers was now. Their arms wrapped around each other, sated smiles on their faces. She could hear herself saying to Severus, “Well, hello to you, too.”
Hermione smiled and decided that she would make that fantasy a reality even if it meant her throwing Severus inhe dhe door jam.
…which induces the victim to relive a reality as a nightmare every night, waking with the physical manifestations of the original reality.
Snape looked up and realized he found it. At least he believed this to be it, hoped this was it. Looking back to the book he saw it; the counter-curse. Good gods, it can’t be that easy with nothing to develop, nothing to research? He read further and discovered that the curse was only meant to be a short term punishment that, when left in place for an extended period of time, it would drive the victim to madness!
The text listed that the duration to madness to be between a few weeks to several months. There was no documented case of anyone lasting longer than seven months before madness set in. How had Hermione survived this long? It explained her solitude and eventual estrangement from her friends.
Snape suspected that the distance between her and her friends wasn’t just them being too busy for her. She had probably been inadvertently pushing people away for years! She never told anyone her secret. It explained her demeanor and spirit being stunted, though she still showed signs of former self. Maybe it is because she shared her secret with him that she hadn’t pushed him away? He shook himself out of his reverie. All theory, and all moot. What he needed to do was see if this counter-curse worked and then hope that continuous full nights of sleep with no open wounds to wake up to will bring back full-force the spirit that he catches glimpses of.
He looked up at the timer he had set and noticed it was close to going off. He waved it away and with book in hand he bolted out of the door. Before he could make it to the stairs, he heard the shower running in Hermione’s room. Without a second thought, he took off for her room and ran in.
“Hermione, you almost done in there,” he was saying to the bathroom door.
“Severus? What? I couldn’t hear you over the water.” Snape opened the door and poked his head in.
“I asked if you were almost done.”
“Actually I just got in.” She peered at him from around the shower curtain giving him a wicked grin and said “Would you care to join me?”
Oh, yes.
Shower over, they sat together on her bed, Severus in his pajamas, Hermione still wrapped up in her towel. Severus wouldn’t let her get dressed and wouldn’t tell her why.
Severus pulled a book out from the pocket of his robe and held it up for her to see. The Malfoy crest was clearly evident on the spine of the book, and a chill ran so hard through her body that she jerked uncontrollably once. Her mr usr used to call that feeling ‘someone walking over your grave.’
In typical Snape fashion, with no preamble and no dissembling, Severus dropped a bombshell on her.
“I think I found the counter-curse.”
Hermione had a million questions floating through head. ad. Questions such as ‘is that where you went today?’, and ‘are you sure?’, and ‘what if it doesn’t work?’, and ‘are you bloody sure!?’ among others. But all she could do was open her mouth for a couple of seconds before closing it again. She repeated the process twice more before Severus put her out of her misery.
“I retrieved several books from Malfoy Manor today. I didn’t tell you because, honestly, I thought it would take longer digging through three texts, much of it archaic dark magic, before I found anything, and then possibly some time longer to work out a counter-curse.” He noticed the look on her face and the glassy quality of her eyes and he pulled her into a tight embrace.
“Hermione, I don’t want to get your hopes up, but will you let me try this? If I’m not correct in my belief that I found the correct curse, it won’t cause any damage to try and I can go back to the books and research further. But if I’m correct…” he trailed off.
Hermione took several deep breaths and sucked back any tears. She disentangled herself from Severus and nodded, not trusting her own voice. He walked her to the middle of the room and gently removed the towel from her body. Her eyes closed in a moment of self-consciousness before opening them back up and looking squarely at Severus to let him know that she was ready.
He stepped back, his wand at the ready. She felt the air crackle and set herself firmly, her breaths coming in quick and sharp. Just when she thought she might be close to hyperventilating, she quiet literally felt his voice rip through her body.
“Cesso repetitio insomnium, restituo pacalis somnio!”
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a/n: yes, i\'m behind. good news is that i\'m behind because i recently picked up some (paying) side projects, so that\'s a good thing for my unemployed butt! :)
the last line roughly translates to \"cease repition of bad dreams, restore peaceful sleep.\" hey! no one EVER said i was above being utterly cheesy! :D
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