Life Begins Anew

Chapter 13 Gelamen Philologus (Gathering of Scholars) Part Two

Sara was spending her evening at the manor. She sighed as she pulled the memories of tonight’s events and placed them into her pensieve. She would look at it later. Obviously she was going to need a lot of background on her brother. She called out to their link to Bootstray and Slightly. She felt them come from the back of her mind. “I need everything you can get on my brother, Severus Snape.”

She could feel the shock that Bootstray projected “Your brother!?” She then told the two wizards of her mother’s memory charm and the recent awakening of her childhood memories. “Sara, could you come to the dining halI?” Asked Bootstray. “I think I can identify an item in the prophecy!”

She walked in and they rose to greet her. Bootstray kissed her hand as Slightly pecked her cheek. She tutted to the obvious brown nosing and grabbed a sandwich as she sat down.

Bootstray rolled out his copy of the prophecy. “What house was your brother sorted in?” She frowned “I don’t remember, but he is Head of Slytherin so he must be Slytherin.”

“And what is Slytherin’s symbol?” “A snake” she replied, suddenly seeing where this was leading.

Slightly broke in “And let’s not forget that he is in Voldemort’s inner circle and the Order of the Phoenix!” She decided to fill them in on her actions of joining the death eaters before their arrival. Slightly grabbed up a quill and wrote the name Severus Snape above the word “snake”. “I hope you and your brother get along Sara. I think he is going to be important if we are to be successful.”

“I won’t know that until Monday. He is very distrusting and cold, and did not believe any of my masterships. I know he is going to hate the public apology that he will have to give me. And then, there is my initiation and revel. I have a feeling that “My Lord” is going to use me in a most foul way in punishing the traitors I have to identify. And Voldemort is distrusting my brother, so I have a feeling that he will force him to participate as we are, after all, family.”

Bootstray noticed the haunted look in her eye. The witch had changed since they "died" together “We are here for you Sara, so forget the Sergeant at Arms bullshit and keeping us at a distance. We all have grown beyond that. We died together, and that means something! We are staying with you tonight and give you strength. You will not be alone this night!” His voice brooked no choice.

The two wizards grabbed her arms and hustled her up the grand staircase and dropped her off at her bedchambers. She changed into pajama pants and slipped on a t-shirt and sat on the bed, waiting for them to return from their chambers.

They walked in, attired as she was. “What! Not nude? I was hoping that you would prefer nakedness when you sleep.” Bootstray joked.

“You will have to sneak in when I sleep alone and see, and you already know that Hades would not let you.” She laughed to him as they climbed on the large bed and settled in, one wizard on each side. They wrapped their arms around her as she sighed comfortably and they felt her relax. Sara sleepily thought to herself that with the schedule that she and her brother shared, he would never have time to research them all. She yawned and snuggled up to Slightly as Bootstray wrapped an arm around from behind her. Soon, ensconced in the warmth of one another, they fell into a deep sleep.

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Back at Hogwarts, Severus had come to the same conclusion that he would never have time to research into his sister’s Masterships. He had the revel to attend that would last the weekend, not to mention classes starting up. There was only one person that could do this perfectly.

The know it all lived for learning and researching. Thinking on Miss Granger, he thought that she did not catch on to a lot of the interactions that happens around her. He detested her constant hand-waving and perfectly stated answers memorized word for word from her Potions book. But last year he noticed that she raised her hand less, and listened when lectured. He supposed that the Department of Mysteries had changed her. She acted so much more mature and carried herself as a woman. Gahhh, did he just refer to the witch as a woman!!? He shook his head. He still wasn't ready to admit that feelings for the witch were seeping in. She was still a student, no matter what his thoughts were. He exited his chambers and went to go find her.

“Gryffindor’s out after curfew Miss Granger?” He sneered at her, moving closer. He knew that she had hall duty tonight but enjoyed winding her up.

Hermione looked up to him and gave a slight smile as she spoke “No, Professor Snape, it is my turn to do patrol tonight. I got off easy I think! I mean who would get into mischief with all the teachers here with nothing to do or teach until Monday?”

Severus simply looked at her, concealing the amazement on his face. “For such a know it all Miss Granger, you really do not have a clue. Follow me!”

She followed him until they stood next to a tapestry. Her professor pointed his wand and whispered "Muffliato"

"A wager Miss. Granger! I can tell you house and the students behind the tapestry. If I win, you will do a bit of research for me that will take up the whole weekend. Research that will remain confidential, do you understand?"

Hermione blanched. She was going to use the weekend to get ahead for the first few weeks of schoolwork. Then she grew wary. After all, she was dealing with the Head of House for Slytherin. "And what's in it for me Professor?" she asked.

Very good Miss Granger he thought She wants to prove me wrong, and manipulating me. Maybe she was sorted into the wrong house. Quid Pro Quo. "I will award 50 points in the Great Hall at breakfast, publicly, if I am wrong." He replied.

Her eyes narrowed. That loophole was a mile wide. "Gryffindor, right? She asked.

He grunted and stated his agreement. He felt magic swirl about him. So, the witch was of age. She shouldn't be according to her birth date. Wagering oath magic was felt only if one was of age. It kept wagers honest. Damn. He hadn't planned on that. He needed to hasten the plans forward.

Severus removed the Muffliato charm and smirked at her.

"Mr. Weasly! Miss Brown! You bring shame to Gryffindor House!" He roared as he pulled aside the tapestry.

There in full view was Ronald Weasly naked and fucking fellow Gryffindor Lavander Brown. He was obviously cuming as he shouted "Oh Lav!" as the tapestry was pulled aside. The couple broke away, Ron's cum dripping off his cock.

Severus turned to Hermione, as he knew she harbored feelings for the caught wizard. He noticed that the once fully clothed witch was now wearing only her button down white shirt and skirt. He arched an eyebrow at her, and turned back to address the matter at hand.

"Well, well, well, Mr. Weasly! Trying to start a family before term even begins! Boy, you lack the finesse of a real wizard! And Miss. Brown! Really, you could do much better! 100 points from Gryffindor each! He sneered at the couple as they tried to cover their private bits. "My Slytherins will be sure to thank you for Gryffindor being in the red a mere 4 hours upon your arrival to the castle. Get you clothes on now! And also, detention with Mr. Filch for a week!

"Hermione!" Ron gasped as he realized who was standing next to the professor. "This isn’t what it looks like!" Hermione rolled her eyes as she smelled the scent of sex and turned her back to him.

"Weasly!" Severus roared. "More dressing and less talking! While I am sure your willy is quite the eyeful for a girl..." He stressed the point. "I find that it seriously disgusts me!" He turned his back on the couple as well. Severus glanced down at Hermione. Her hand was clutching her wand, hand shaking

"Err, Professor Snape? It seems our clothes have gone missing." Ron weakly spoke.

"And I can't go about the halls naked!" whined Lavander

Severus suddenly found himself robeless, vestless, and shirtless. He then realized that it was Miss. Granger doing magic, silent at that! He slipped further back into the shadows to not reveal his state of undress. He knew that Hermione was taking away any means of clothing the caught couple. Gods! She could be vindictive. He admired her more.

"Miss Granger! Escort these students to the infirmary, as that is the closest place with clothing!" He pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill from his trousers and wrote a quick note to the nurse and handed it to Miss. Granger. "Give that to Madame Pomfrey" He snarled at her.

She pushed the naked couple toward the infirmary. She heard Professor Snape call out to her. "Oh and 5 points from Gryffindor for stealing a professors personal items! I expect them back tonight!"

"Yes Sir!" She muttered darkly back as she started once again to push the naked couple to Madame Pomfrey's office.

Severus chuckled to himself. That should get Mr. Weasly out of the way. He conjured up a robe from a blank piece of parchment, and strode back to his classroom, robes billowing.

After a few minutes of walking along the halls, they came to the Infirmary and entered.

Madame Pomfrey gasped out in surprise at the sight of the naked students.

Hermione gave Madame Pomfrey the parchment from Professor Snape. She opened it and read it, and quickly dismissed Hermione. She had some naughty students to deal with, and she knew exactly what to do.

Hermione stormed down the halls toward the Potions classroom. Stupid Ron! She thought. She had given him enough clues about her interest. What he saw in Lavander, she would never know.

She stood outside Professor Snape's classroom and mentally prepared herself. After all, the Potions Master was like radar, finding and exploiting everyone's weakness. She knocked.

“Come in, Miss Granger!” Severus called out. The door opened and she walked up to his desk waiting for him to speak. He looked to her to determine what kind of mental shape she was in. He saw anger flashing in her eyes along with a look of hurt, confusion and betrayal. He needed her to be focused on the task at hand. “Sit, Miss. Granger!”

She sat down and looked to her professor. “How long have you known?” She softly asked.

“I have not known the extent of their relationship, though they have been caught several times by the staff for the past two years. They were lucky that it was not a prefect, or the news would have been out quickly. The gossip grapevine is fast, with news such as that. I do not take much notice of the relationships between students, as I really do not care.” He looked to her, and noticed her questioning look. He sighed inwardly.

“Miss Granger I am going to explain this once, and only once! The reason the staff heads, and prefects patrol is to prevent things from escalating to what we saw. Very rarely are students caught copulating.” He sneered. How to put this eloquently? "It is normally snogging and not shagging.” He crossed his arms as he continued speaking. "If I had known beforehand, I would have chosen another place. As to how I knew who was behind the tapestry, one always remember the smell of oft used hand me down robes from the Weaslys and Miss. Brown wears a particular scent.”

Hermione wasn’t surprised at that revelation. After all, he is a Potions Master, and he must have a finely tuned sense of smell. She waited for him to continue.

Severus would never admit that he had taken her to that particular spot on purpose. He needed her to distance herself from that buffoon. Catching the couple shagging was icing on the cake. It played well to his future plans for the witch once Voldemort was taken out of the future. And if he survived. That in itself was a big if. Hermione looked as he looked twenty years ago when he found out about Lily and Potter. He decided to speak easy to her, so that she could compose herself to do the research that he needed her to do.

Severus spoke, without the usual disdain or harshness in his voice. “Very few witches or wizards grace these halls with the mindset that you possess Miss Granger. Your mind is focused on learning and expanding your knowledge. While that is something that we as teachers find refreshing, it limits you to the important aspect of life. Life swirls on about you, and you do not notice it. I am sure that if you did, you would have picked up on Mr. Weasly’s” He spat out the name “Behavior, and all of this would not have surprised or hurt you.” He waited as Hermione contemplated this. He had noticed the frown that appeared on her face.

He continued. “You are at a higher maturity level than that of your fellow students. Young wizard’s need blatant passes and not subtle clues. When you leave Hogwarts and settle, you will find that a wizard with the right temperament will catch on to those clues of yours and pursue you.” He unintentionally lingered for a moment, his expression soft.

He spoke again, voice again to that of what she was used to. “A bit of advice Miss. Granger. Do not study to get ahead for the next two weeks.” He held up his hand to her protest and continued “Stop and study the life that is going on around you. I am sure you will be surprised at what you discover.”

He stood up from his desk and grabbed the 39 medallions beonging to Sara Snape. “Now to the wager. You will research these.” He handed her the medallions and watched as she looked at them. She gasped. “All of these belong to one person!?”

“Supposedly” Voice flat. “Your research is to prove or disprove the validity of these medallions. I have all the masterships books for the past 500 years. You will perform a simple charm to verify ownership, and then refer to the books to find any important facts about the person. You will then write your results to parchment. I suggest you do it in order of year to save you time.”

Severus placed the parchment soaked with Sara’s blood and placed it on his desk. He taped the parchment with his wand and muttered “Quin”. He then tapped a medallion and it glowed blue for a moment and faded. “If it is a true mastership, the medallion will glow. Do you understand what is required of you?”

“Yes Sir, I do”

“Good, Blinky will escort you to my chambers at 10 am tomorrow. I will not be here, but everything you need will be there. And do not think of touching anything other than the medallions or the mastership books. If I find out that you have, and I will, the screaming witches and wizards in the portraits in the Defense classroom will look like a party compared to what I will do to you. Understand that?” His voice filled with menace.

She stepped back at the words, cringing a little. “Do not fear Professor Snape. I will follow your instructions to the letter, and I will keep all of this to myself.”

“I believe you owe me some articles of mine.” She quickly grabbed the reduced clothing from her robes and placed them on his desk. “About that Professor, I can explain…..”

“Do not ever do that EVER again! I do not care what the circumstances are. You were lucky that the research I require is more important, or we would have been straight up to the headmaster’s office. I’m sure he would find a female student divesting her professor’s articles of clothing would be amusing. And make no mention of this little talk that we have had or there WILL BE hell to pay. Now Go!” He roared.

Hermione hurried to the exit and heard the potions professor call back to her. Oh Mrs. Granger….” She turned back to look at him. “Mr. Weasley and Miss. Brown are in for a treat. I suspect by now the parents of both parties are at the infirmary giving permission for a particular exam and also participate in one of Madame Pomphrey’s Sexual Intercourse lectures. You can imagine what their parents will do to them after having to endure it.”

Her face lit up at that information “Thanks for that Sir!” She quickly exited and made her way up to Gryffindor tower.

Severus thought that she took the whole thing rather well. He went to his chambers to get some much needed rest before tomorrow’s revel.

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Hermione entered the Gryffindor dayroom, finding that Harry was still up. She sat down next to him and told him everything that had happened, minus the conversation and wager with the potions master.

“That prat!” Harry seethed. “Why didn’t you tell him that you fancied him Hermione? I know you’ve dropped enough clues.”

She smiled sadly to Harry. “I am not the kind of witch to openly throw herself onto a wizard Harry, and you know that. Anyway, perhaps it is for the best.” She left him to go to her Head Girl’s room to ponder her conversation with Professor Snape. Who would have thought he would give advice to anyone, much less her.

Harry stood up and made his way to the boy’s dormitory. Ron was out of Hermione’s league anyway. He was sure he would get the whole story from Ron in the morning.

A student stepped out from a dark recluse in the dayroom. Oh yes! The gossip machine would be running in full force tomorrow.


AN Quin =Verify in Latin. Sorry for the long chapter, but next chapter is the revel. There will be all sorts of nastiness, so if you are faint about detailed descriptions of torture, I suggest you skip it. Mare