Flame of Existence

--> See Introduction for warnings/disclaimer.

FLAME OF EXISTENCE
/ by Bella

Chapter Fourteen

Hermione and Harry, along with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Ginny, waited anxiously for Madam Pomfrey to let them go into the hospital wing to see Ron. They had been informed by the mediwitch that Ron\'s lungs had probably collapsed, or been close to collapsing, as a side affect of the Unforgivable that was forced upon him. The last they had heard, from Dumbledore, Madam Pomfrey was trying to restore him back to his original health.

Hermione\'s eyes were red from crying with Mrs. Weasley and Ginny. She hadn\'t seen the two witches so emotional before, and it definitely had taken a toll on her own emotions. On top of worrying about Ron, Hermione also had a certain Potions Master on her mind.

If one thing were true, it was that Severus Snape never ceased to amaze her -- both intelligently and emotionally, and that worried her to death. It was no big secret that Snape and the Weasley family did not get along well. However, the \'greasy git\' had managed to put that aside and comfort Hermione when Ron was well on his way to Death\'s doorstep.

He had assured her that everything would be all right... And she believed him, but she was still worried for Ron. If he died, Hermione would never forgive herself. She felt that it was all of her fault in the first place. Crabbe and Goyle were still bitter because of Draco being expelled from Hogwarts all because of her. Granted, it wasn\'t her fault, but she still felt that if she hadn\'t let it out that Draco had raped her, Ron wouldn\'t be in the Hospital Wing at that time fighting for his life.

She sighed again, and rubbed the place between her brows that attracted all of the tension she was currently harboring.

Her thoughts astray, Hermione didn\'t realize at first that Madam Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore had come out into the hall. It wasn\'t until Harry and the three Weasley\'s stood that her mind snapped back to the current situation. She stood alongside Harry and bit her bottom lip, trying to peer past the medi-witch and Headmaster.

“Mr. and Mrs. Weasley,” said Dumbledore as he peered out from behind his half-moon spectacles at the addressees. ”Madam Pomfrey was able to cure Ronald\'s failing lungs. He is, we assure you, going to be back in original working order within the next few days.”

At the news, Mrs. Weasley made a noise somewhere between a squeal and a cry, and ran to Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey and hugged them both. ”Thank you both so much.”

The next few minutes were spent passing relief-ridden hugs around. It wasn\'t until Arthur Weasley\'s face fell into seriousness.

“Albus, sir... what of the boy who cast the Unforgivable? What justice--”

Dumbledore held up his hand and nodded, sighing deeply. ”Arthur, I assure you that justice will be served. The boy, at the current time, is being held in the both the care of Professors Snape and McGonagall, and will be shortly handed over to the Ministry. As you know, trial will be held before any sentencing will be given out. At the present time, all I can offer you is my serious apologies that this had to happen to your son.”

Mr. Weasley nodded and smiled shortly. ”Of course, Professor. And thank you for all of your help. Madam Pomfrey, would it be all right if we saw Ron for a short minute before we depart?”

Madam Pomfrey nodded. ”Yes, Mr. Weasley, but don\'t expect any response from him. He is in the early, and hardest, stages of recovery. I will allow two at a time for a few minutes each.”

Agreeing, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were the first two to enter the Infirmary to see Ron, while Ginny, Harry, and Hermione all waited outside. When they came back out a few minutes later, both Mr. and Mrs. Weasleys\' eyes were red-rimmed and they were sniffling. Ginny stood to go next, and she looked at her two friends.

“Go,” Hermione said quietly as Harry looked at her questioningly.

Harry nodded and grabbed Ginny\'s arm and led her through the double doors. While Mr. and Mrs. Weasley talked to Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey, Hermione stared out into space, thinking again.

The few minutes that Harry and Ginny were in the Infirmary flew by, and before Hermione knew it, she was the one walking into the wing... alone.

She pushed back the unruly hair from her face and walked over to the curtained bed where Ron was. His hair was pushed out at all angles and his skin came off as sallow. Hermione sat down on the edge of the bed beside him and scooped up his hand.

“Ron,” she choked out as she stared down at her unconscious friend. “Gods, Ron... I\'m so sorry. Do you hear me? I\'m sorry for this. You didn\'t deserve it. You were just being a good friend. That... that sorry excuse for a wiz-- no.”

Hermione stopped herself. “It\'s my fault you lying here-- all my fault. If I hadn\'t told on Draco, you wouldn\'t be in this position, would you?”

She stopped as if waiting for a response. “Gods, Ron... I never told you. I guess... I guess I felt like you wouldn\'t understand, or care, but I was wrong. I\'m sorry I never told you, and I\'m sorry you had to be brought into this.”

She started openly crying, her chin resting near her chest and her eyes squeezed shut. Her lips were pressed together, yet somehow, the desperate cries still rung out from her throat.

It happened quickly, and shortly. Hermione felt her hand being squeezed softly, and her eyes opened immediately. Ron still looked unconscious, but before she could investigate further, Madam Pomfrey was in and ushering her out.

Hermione didn\'t stop to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, or Harry and Ginny for that matter, but ran past them instead. When she got to the main corridor, she took a left and ran up the stairs until she reached her Head Girl\'s rooms.

Safely inside, she slammed the door shut behind her and backed against it, a whole new realm of tears washing over her.

{--------------------------------------------}

Hermione stayed in her rooms for the remainder of the afternoon. It wasn\'t until after the supper was over in the Great Hall that she quietly removed herself from her rooms. She quickly made her way down to the dungeons without much interception, and arrived at the Potions classroom where she knocked only once before letting herself into the room.

She had expected the classroom to be empty, but what she found was Professor Snape instructing a frightened third-year to clean the bottoms of dirty cauldrons.

Snape looked up as Hermione walked in the door, his face softening for a fraction of a second before he continued to tell third-year, James Greene, the importance of a clean cauldron. When the boy began scrubbing again, this time correctly, Snape walked away and over to where Hermione was standing.

He noted the worried look on her face. ”Mi-- Hermione, what is it?”

“I- I need to speak with you,” she said quietly as she eyed the other student.

Snape waited a moment for her to continue and then raised his eyebrows in question. ”Well? Miss Granger, I assure you that I do not have all night to stand around and wonder why you have come to me after class hours when you have clearly not been assigned a detention.”

Hermione bit back the urge to curl her lip back at him, as she realized that the third-year was watching them. ”It is about a paper that you graded. I think my marks were unfair, sir.”

“Miss Granger, do you purposefully wake up in the morning in order to jump on my nerves?” Snape sneered as he walked back over to the cauldron that the student was cleaning. ”Mr. Greene, I simply refuse to instruct you on the proper way to clean a cauldron again. You are to go directly to Mr. Filch\'s office to finish your detention with him.”

Snape summoned a piece of parchment and a quill and began writing. When he was finished, he folded the note and handed it to the student. ”Give this to him, too... Now go ”

James Greene took the note and grabbed his bag before he stumbled out of the classroom in a hurry. The heavy oak door shut loudly behind him.

Snape walked over to Hermione and placed both hands on either of her shoulders. ”I trust this isn\'t about your grade?”

Hermione shook her head a smiled lightly up at him. “No, it isn\'t... Actually, it\'s about what happened earlier today... Sir, Malfoy\'s behind this.”

Snape nodded and began to pace before her. “Yes, I agree. Crabbe is too --stupid-- to think of using an Unforgivable all on his own. Now we\'ll have to see whether he\'ll give up Draco Malfoy at the hearing.”

Hermione\'s brows knitted together. “Do you think Crabbe\'s hearing will be before Malfoy\'s? I mean--”

“It most likely will be, Hermione.” Snape stopped pacing and stared at the witch before him. “As wrong as it is, the Ministry will probably find Crabbe\'s to be more heavily weighted...”

The emotions slowly played across Hermione\'s face; anger, then disgust, then sadness, then calmness. She looked up at Snape and resumed where he had left off pacing.

“What if he doesn\'t, er, tell on Malfoy?”

Snape grabbed her forearm lightly and stopped her from walking again. “Then we\'ll have to figure that out when the time comes.”

She nodded and stared up at him, thinking. It wasn\'t until his sleek fingers wrapped themselves in her hair that she came out of her trance and moved up to allow him better access to her mouth. One move, and Snape had her pinned against the side of a desk. His lips came down against hers roughly and he captured them between his.

For a few minutes they stood there relishing in each others company, as if time had suddenly stopped. Hands, hair, lips all in one big web of tangles, both Severus and Hermione failed to hear the door to the classroom open and shut.

At the sound of a throat clearing itself, the two snogging people broke apart simultaneously and stared wide-eyed at the intruder.

Albus Dumbledore stood there by the door, arms crossed, and a very amused grin on his face.

“I didn\'t mean to interrupt,” the Headmaster began, his eyes twinkling. ”However, it is necessary that we speak, Professor Snape. Hermione, would you please excuse us?”

Hermione, on the verge of tears, nodded quickly and practically ran from the room. A thousand thoughts passed through her mind as she took that long walk back to her rooms.

Professor Dumbledore had caught them... and he hadn\'t given them the slightest inclination that what they had been doing was wrong. Hermione didn\'t know what to make of that, really.

Before she could think on it any longer, Stephen Cornfoot, the Head Boy, was at her side.

“Hello, Hermione,” he said briskly as he walked alongside her. ”You look like you\'ve just seen a ghost. What\'s wrong?”

Hermione shook her head. ”Nothing, Stephen.”

“I was thinking that we could finish the plans up for the Halloween Ball?”

Hermione stopped walking and stared at him. “Tonight?”

When he nodded, Hermione shook her head. “I can\'t tonight. I\'ve got too many other things going on.”

She began to walk again when Stephen grabbed her arm to stop her. “But, Hermione, we have certain responsibilities as Head Boy and Girl--”

Hermione snatched her arm from his grasp. “Yes, we do, Stephen. But we also have plenty of time to finish up the few minor details. Right now, I have to go to my rooms to finish up some stuff of my own. Now, goodnight.”

“W-Wait, Hermione?”

She stopped again and sighed loudly, clearly frustrated. “What do you want, Stephen?”

Stephen smiled nervously. “Well, I thought it would be fun if you and I would go to the Ball together.”

Hermione\'s mouth opened and shut a few times and her cheeks reddened. “I.. I can\'t, Stephen.”

Without looking back at him, Hermione turned quickly and continued to her rooms. “This day ” She said, wondering what else was in store for her. However, by the time she reached her rooms, she realized that she was dead tired, despite all of the unsolved thoughts running through her mind.

Meanwhile, down in the dungeons, Snape was eyeing the Headmaster warily, wondering when he was going to speak. Dumbledore was pacing back and forth in front of the large bookcases in the back of the dungeon classroom. Every few seconds, he would stop, eye the spine of a book, and then start walking again.

“Sir, I can explain,” Snape said finally, tired of waiting for Dumbledore to speak.

“There is no need, Severus.” Dumbledore turned and looked at Snape, the twinkle in his eye still present. “What I did not see tonight was a teacher sexually harassing a student. No, no that was not harassment.”

Albus smiled at Snape genuinely. “I have known you a long time, Severus. I watched you go from a confused boy, to the great wizard you are today. My point being, my boy, is that you have made great mistakes in your life. Indeed, we both know how that is, do we not? And by making terrible mistakes, you learn. As the old muggle saying goes - \'What doesn\'t kill you only makes you stronger.\'

I\'m trusting that any decisions you do make in the near future will be good decisions, for your own sake. For once in your life, Severus, do something for you. You have my blessing.”

Snape had been leaning against a desk with his arms crossed over his chest as he listened to the Headmaster speaking. Yes, he took it all in, but he didn\'t quite understand what Dumbledore was suggesting.

“Sir, she\'s a student. I\'m a teacher. Surely there are laws--”

Albus\'s eyebrows shot up. ”What are you talking about, Severus? Who\'s a student?”

Snape stopped himself before speaking. ”Albus, what are you--”

“Make good decisions, my boy. I\'m going to sleep now. An old dog needs his rest, does he not?” Albus winked at Snape and took his leave. Before he got to the door, however, he turned and eyed Snape thoughtfully. ”And Severus... be careful. You both have been through a lot lately.”


End of Chapter Fourteen / To Be Continued

A/N: Hey guys. I\'m really sorry about the long wait (just about a month), but I\'ve been kind of down in the dumps lately. I swear everything\'s been going wrong... but I\'m not going to post my troubles here. Anyway, it took me two days to write this chapter. It\'s a bit shorter than the other chapters length-wise, but it\'s about the same considering word-count. I guess I just really haven\'t been feeling up to writing, but I managed this for you all. I hope you enjoyed it.

As always, ALL reviews are highly appreciated (and encouraged!). I\'d really love to know what you think of the story thus far. So, please review. :)