A Looping of the Scales ~ COMPLETED

Chapter 14 ~ Outlooks

Ron was sullen and non-responsive at breakfast, even when Hermione cast a Muffliato to try and talk to him while they were eating.

”Ron, stop being like this. It was nothing, I told you that,” she said to him.

Ron looked at her but didn’t answer, then departed, leaving her knapsack on the bench.

”Ooh,” Hermione hissed removing the spell.

Harry and Ginny didn’t say anything. This was between Hermione and Ron. All they could do was hope they’d work it out somehow.

As Hermione headed for her first class, she was angry at Ron. He knew she didn’t have much time during the week to do any socializing, and she certainly didn’t have time to chase after him to try and make him talk to her. She scheduled time on the weekends for that and tutoring other students, but she focused on her own work during the week, trying to get it all done before the weekend so she could help others with their studies. It was a grueling schedule, but Hermione thrived under it. The only reason she even took her meals in the Great Hall was so Ron could see her for a few minutes. She’d prefer to take them in her room so she could work while eating, but Ron wouldn’t stand for that. He already felt she didn’t spend enough time with him.

And she really didn’t. She couldn’t, not with all the NEWTS she was taking. She didn’t want to waste a single OWL, not one. She felt she’d somehow be letting herself down if she didn’t retain those excellent marks when she graduated.

Ron was being unfair. He should realize that she didn’t need this right now. He had no right to be jealous anyway. He was the one who actually had something going on with another witch at one time. Lavender Brown. But he and Hermione hadn’t really been going out then. Now they were and he didn’t have eyes for anyone else.

She didn’t have eyes for anyone else either. Well, not really. A crush on a teacher shouldn’t count as cheating at all. It was natural. Even Ron admitted to liking professor Sinistra, the Astronomy teacher, who was quite a lovely witch. But he had been a third year then. Not a grown wizard the age of consent. But, what difference did that make, really? She hadn’t actually done anything with professor Snape. She just—imagined what it would be like to—

Hermione blushed furiously, glad that Snape had only seen that little glimpse of her fantasies about his older self. Imagine if he had seen her fantasies of actually being shagged by the snarky wizard in his classroom. Merlin. The attraction started shortly after Snape’s return to Hogwarts. He was still as mean as ever, if not meaner, and even more anti-social than before. She only saw him in the classroom. He stopped taking meals with the other teachers completely.

She couldn’t say why it happened, or how. It—just did. One day when she was seated in his class and he was lecturing, his dark eyes fell on her for a split second and she felt a thrill go through her. It was electric and startling, hitting her right between her thighs. It was the most disturbing thing she had ever felt, but delicious as well. And that was when it started, Hermione imagining herself kissing him and him kissing her back, then touching her, and saying all manner of crude things to her as he did so, calling her a silly girl to play with him this way—then--

Hermione turned into class, pushing everything out of her mind. Ron, Snape and her own distorted feelings. Professor Snape was gone now, at least the Snape of her fantasies. She had to convince Ron one way or the other that the crush was gone too.

As for the Snape of today, she was going to get those blasted memories for him as soon as she could, but before she gave them to him, he was going to listen to what she had to say. He’d definitely be getting an earful.

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Ron was just as sullen at lunch and supper as he had been at breakfast, giving Hermione the silent treatment and frustrating the witch to no end. Finally, Hermione gave up trying to talk to him and focused on her studies. However, she did send him a note from her room, in the shape of a butterfly. It was charmed to go directly to his room. It did, unfolding on his bed. Ron was out flying with Harry. He wasn’t very talkative and Harry was just there for him.

When he finally returned to Gryffindor Tower, he found Hermione’ note on his bed. It read:

Ron,

We need to talk this weekend. I’ve scheduled time for us between 2 and 3 in the afternoon. I’ve left a little wriggle room in case we need more time.

Hermione

Ron put the note on his nightstand. So, she penciled him in for the weekend, which meant she didn’t care if he were upset or not talking to her for the whole week. She had made an effort to talk to him, but she’d given up so fast. It was as if she didn’t want to waste time on him.

Ron let out a sigh. Yes, he did need to talk to Hermione, and not just about the Snape situation, but about what she planned to do when she graduated. She told him they’d have more time to be together, but for how long? What were her plans? What did she want to do with her life? And how did he fit in, if he fit in at all?

Ron sighed again, plopping down on the bed. Harry was in the common room with Ginny, playing Snap. Hermione never had time for games. She didn’t have time for anything but herself and her blasted studies. Oh. And Snape, even after he said she wanted to lift her robes for him.

Maybe she did.

Ron and Hermione had shagged one time, right after the final battle, and it had been a bit of an ordeal for both of them. Using the condom had been very awkward, Ron stopping to put it on and throwing everything out of sync. Hermione had insisted he use one despite the contraceptive spell she had cast on herself. An unplanned pregnancy wasn’t one of her main goals in life.

The sex itself had been better for Ron than it had been for Hermione. It was her first time, so there was some initial pain, and Ron was too inexperienced to know how to make it better for her. Also, the blood had squicked him a little and he softened. They finally managed to complete the act, but it was far from the romantic coupling Hermione had hoped for. They hadn’t been intimate since, which made her crush on Snape even more disturbing to Ron.

Although he understood her workload was heavy and required much of her time, and even understood her need to help other students, sometimes it felt like Hermione kept so busy to avoid any intimacy with him. Ginny and Harry were openly affectionate as were many other couples. As far as Ron could tell, theirs was the only relationship like this in school. Hermione was a very special witch, and he was very proud that he had her for a girlfriend. Everyone knew how brilliant she was and although Ron was also considered one of the major heroes in the fight against Voldemort, he felt having Hermione was like a kind of proof of just how special he was. This wasn’t a conscious feeling, however, just something underneath he wasn’t really aware of. Ron believed he loved Hermione, otherwise he wouldn’t go through all he did.

And although he didn’t say anything to Hermione about the comment Snape made about lifting her robes for him, it had been troubling because Snape could have been speaking the truth. Ron had no idea how far Hermione’s fantasies about Snape had gone. Did she only dream about kissing him, or did she fantasize about him putting his greasy mitts and other parts all over her body? Ron felt sickened even at the though of it.

Yes, they needed to talk. Right now, they were definitely on the outs.

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Minerva shared the letter she’d received from the Board of Governors concerning Snape with Albus’ portrait The Board had wasted no time addressing the matter once they were made aware of the situation.

“It says here, Albus, that Severus is to remain at Hogwarts as a ward of the school until he completes his NEWTS.

“Ah, excellent. I’m glad to see the Board isn’t just turning him out,” the portrait replied.

Minerva nodded and continued sharing the Board’s findings.

”He will be provided with room and board, and given the sum of 400 Galleons in lieu of notice, effective immediately.”

Minerva frowned.

“That doesn’t seem like much of a severance pay considering all the years he’s been here and the service he provided for the school,” she said angrily.

”You know the Board, Minerva. To get any decent amount of money out of them outside of the budget, you would have to pry it from their collective cold, dead hands.”

Minerva snorted, knowing the portrait was right. Actually, the severance pay would put Snape’s savings almost exactly back to where it was. It was doubtful he’d complain about it.

“He will retain his quarters until the end of the year until graduation, then will have to depart before the next term begins to make room for a new Potions teacher. I suppose I should start searching for a replacement immediately. It won’t be easy to replace him. As snarky as Severus is—er—was, he did teach well. He got through to the students.”

”That’s one way of putting it,” Albus’ portrait replied evenly, its blue eyes twinkling.

Minerva smirked slightly, even as her eyes glistened a bit. Severus’ teaching methods appeared to be quite harsh, and he, rather cruel, but he had come about his style of teaching honestly and through conditioning.

When the wizard first became a teacher at Hogwarts, he was only twenty-one and at the most, three years older than his seventh year students, some of whom remembered him being targeted by Potter, Black and the others.

Snape had started out fairly enough, determined to try and teach everyone equally, but the Gryffindors were insufferable. The other houses weren’t much better, simply because he was so young. They challenged him, threw papers and spells at him when his back was turned, gave him cheek and would blow up their cauldrons because they half-listened—

One day, Snape changed his methods dramatically.

He walked into the classroom, and both the Slytherins and the Gryffindors were boisterously chattering, running about and doing basically what they always did.

”Sit down!” Snape had yelled, but no one paid attention—

Until he started Imperioing everyone, forcibly sticking them in their chairs and shutting their mouths. It was an Unforgivable, but Snape was Dumbledore’s man even then and he wasn’t reprimanded for it. After that, he had a few magical altercations with the older students, but Snape was a very nasty dueler, thanks to the Marauders.

Eventually, he put the physical fear of Snape into his students, than began to work on the psychological fear, the fear that would keep generations of students properly cowed so he could force some knowledge into their heads.

On another occasion, (and Minerva never forgot this because her Gryffindors had complained about it so badly, it was as if she’d been there), Snape entered the classroom with an armful of potions and set them on his desk. He couldn’t have been more than twenty-four or twenty-five at the time.

He turned to the class and said softly, “I am going to give you an oral quiz. I will ask what ingredients are used to make a potion, and you in turn will give me the proper formula. However—“

Here, Snape gave the nasty half-smile he was becoming known for.

”If you do not give me the proper formula, you will take a sip of the potion in question. We’re going to start out with Both Ends Elixir; a potion used to—ah—cleanse the body.”

Both Ends Elixir cleansed the body all right. Anyone who took it would be running at both ends until nothing was left. They had to stay within ten feet of a bathroom for at least four hours. That had been one hell of a test, with Snape starting with the Gryffindors. He utilized a Silencing spell so the other students couldn’t hear the nervous responses, and the Imperio curse on the few reluctant students who tried to refuse to participate. There was an outcry from parents, but Dumbledore handled everything.

When Snape met with the outraged parents in conference, he calmly told them that Potions was a dangerous subject and his teaching methods ensured the students got the gist of it. And, if they didn’t like it, he could always give their children “alternate” non-potion-related assignments, such as growing and tending daisies grown in fresh, pungent Thestral manure.

Later generations of students didn’t know it, but Snape had toned it down quite a bit over the years.

Minerva looked back down at the parchment and continued.

“His Potions class is to be taught by the rest of the staff in rotation according to the lesson plan he developed before the accident. Since Severus is an adult and not a true student of Hogwarts, he will not be subject to the restrictions or punishments of the rest of the students. He will not be able to win or lose house points, or be assigned detentions. But, if he exhibits bad behavior, after three verbal warnings and one written one, he risks complete expulsion from Hogwarts.”

”What about his Head of House duties?” the portrait asked.

”Slughorn will have to serve as the Head of House for the rest of the year. No doubt the old walrus will love that,” Minerva said with a sniff. She didn’t approve of how Slughorn treated students. He showed blatant favoritism that made them either big-headed or feel like they didn’t exist at all.

“Ah, well. I’d better summon him and let him know all this,” Minerva said with a sigh.

Albus’ portrait took on a green pallor.

”I believe I’ll go visit the fruit painting near the kitchens,” it said, Albus’ image disappearing quickly. There were a few grunts, exclamations and squeals as he slipped through the other portraits on his way out.

Minerva just shook her head.

”The Great Albus Dumbledore,” she said with a sigh.

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A/N: Ok. The issues between Ron and Hermione are clearly marked and Snape’s standing at the school also clearly defined. I threw in a little AU history of Snape’s early years as a teacher. I imagine it could have gone this way for him, since he was so young and made him the teacher he became, along with all his other problems. Now we can get to the good stuff. :) Thanks for reading.

A/A/N: Debra, Ibn and Chi have just headed off to the hospital. The twins will be delivered by C-section at noon. Good lordy, that brings my grandbaby count up to 10! And this from children who swore they’d never have any. Don’t believe them when they tell you that, trust me. I may have come into this world alone, but I’ll be leaving plenty behind when I go. :)