Fire and the Dragon

A/N: Here is the fun chapter I have been dying to write. Do not know how good it will be to you, but it was fun to write. Now that there is a verdict, Hermione will begin to feel free, trust me on this one. After the attacker is punished and locked away, the victim heals faster. Now she can move on to more, hmm..interesting, prospects. Anyway, thanks for reading and reviewing.















Ch. 16 Verdict and Celebration



January 15 brought the coldest day England had seen in recent history. The weekend trip to Hogsmeade was cancelled, and the staff of Hogwarts had to keep reinforcing the warming spells in order to keep the students warm.



Hermione and Severus had spent the afternoons and evenings of the past two weeks in Hermione’s rooms. She was still having a difficult time learning occlumency. It was irritating for her to have Severus constantly penetrating her mind and seeing her memories.



She had, only once, managed to shield herself and go into Severus’ mind. Only to find a memory of one of the revels he had to attend during his service to Voldemort. She avoided Severus for two days afterwards.



“Ms. Granger, close your mind. Master yourself and your emotions.” He said for the hundredth time. Hermione huffed. “We have been at this for weeks, professor, I can not figure out how to do it.” She was pretty miffed that she could not achieve her goal after a couple of tries.



Severus closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Have you never practiced yoga, or any form of meditation?” He was determined to have a break through with the girl. “Yes, when I was in school here. It helped me relax before studying for a big exam.” She exclaimed.



Breathing a sigh of relief, Severus opened his eyes again. “Good, you will find that similar thought processes are needed for this. Are you ready?” she nodded her head, finally happy to have some kind of direction.



Without much more warning, he dove into her mind. Hermione focused all of her strength on breathing and reaching her ‘zen’ as her mother used to call it. She could still feel Severus trying to reach her thoughts, but it was as though a wall had been produced.



“Congratulations, Hermione, you have succeeded in blocking me from your mind. If you practice this every night, you should find yourself without those nightmares.” He inclined his head slightly to her.



She smiled brilliantly, finally she had done it. Her smile and flashing eyes were intoxicating to Severus. They had not shared any more intimate moments since Christmas, but that didn’t mean he did not think about it.



They were interrupted from their thoughts by Harry coming through her door. He looked at his friend and smiled. It had been so long since he had seen her looking so happy. “Hermione, nice to see you smiling again.” He told her.



“Thanks Harry, I just blocked Professor Snape from using legelimency against me!” she exclaimed. Harry looked from her to Snape, confusion written on his face.



“Yes, Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger proved to be a much more adept pupil at the subtle art of occlumency than you could ever dream.” He smirked at the look on the boy’s face.



Harry shook himself from his angry state. He looked again at Hermione, he hoped this would help her find closure. “The verdict from Ron’s hearing came in today, I had to tell you personally before the papers published it.”



Hermione dropped her wand and waited, butterflies in her stomach. Severus, as well, was watching the boy intently. Hopefully the justice system would hold up.



“80 years in Azkaban, no chance of early release!” Harry’s breath was fast as he continued. “And his cellmates are none other than: Nott and McNair!” This news alone brought tears to her eyes. Severus smirked, the boy would indeed get his come-uppings with those two.



“He’s gone, it’s over.” She whispered to herself. A smile graced her lips. She jumped off the chair she had slumped into. “I’m free? He can’t hurt me anymore?” She and Harry clasped arms and began to jump around.



After a little more jubilation, Harry had to return to work, leaving her and Severus alone again. She turned to him with a big smile still on her face. “Let’s go out, Severus!” she looked pleadingly at the man.



He was glad that the girl had some of her spirit back, suddenly, but going out? He glanced at the slight bulge in her waist, “Are you even able to go out much anymore?” he asked her.



She placed her hands on her stomach and laughed. “The baby is fine! Women go out all the time while they are pregnant. Come on, I feel like celebrating, and I know just the place to go!” Her twinkling eyes held mischief but the potion’s master could not deny her, this time.





Severus kept a firm hold on her elbow as the made their way across the icy parking lot. Hermione had apparated them to somewhere in muggle land. They were outside what appeared to be a large arena. Thousands of people were making their way inside.



When they got to their seats, Severus noticed a large cage in the middle of the arena. All around him people were shouting and talking. He looked at Hermione, why would she want to be a part of this wild crowd?



Hermione noticed the look on his face and laughed. “When I was little, my dad would bring me here for matches, his way of celebrating anything.” He couldn’t help but smile softly at the look of her face. Her hair was wild and windswept, her cheeks, nose and lips were a rosy red from the cold, and she looked adorable.



The lights went out suddenly and a man’s voice came over the loudspeaker. Severus couldn’t make out what was being said over the loud crowd. Hermione pointed to the left and he saw a man walking out from behind a curtain, fireworks exploding as he began to make his way down the walkway.



On the opposite side of the arena, the same thing occurred as another man came to the cage in the middle. Four women in trashy bikinis locked the men in the cage. “Why would those women wear THAT in this kind of weather?” Hermione chuckled and shook her head, this was going to be fun.



A bell sounded and the men lunged for each other. Punching, kicking, throwing one another around, jumping from the side of the cage to pin the other one to the floor, and once Severus witnessed one man pick the other up while the other was upside down, then fall to the ground. Severus’ mouth dropped, the man should be dead.



He looked at the excited look in Hermione’s eyes. Did her attack rattle her brain to crave violence? Then he thought about what she said about her father bringing her here. Why would a man bring his daughter to see this?



When the fight was over and they were walking back to the apparition point, Severus pulled Hermione to the side to question her about why she enjoys such displays and shouldn’t the men be dead or are they secretly magic who have unmatched healing powers.



Hermione couldn’t help it, she doubled over in laughter. She did not once think to explain that this type of wrestling was like a show, it was fake. She was laughing so hard that tears were raining down her face.



Severus, on the other hand, scowled. “I fail to see the humor here, Hermione.” He did not like being laughed at.



Hermione wiped her eyes and attempted to calm down enough to explain. “I’m sorry, Severus, it is just. Those men were not really fighting each other. It is like a show. They pretend.”



“Insolent muggles, coming up with something so vile.” He huffed. He certainly hated to seem uninformed about anything. This simply made Hermione laugh even harder.



She was still laughing when they reached the gates of Hogwarts. A few deep breaths calmed her enough to enter the castle. She nudged Severus as the made their way up the stair. “Don’t worry; I won’t let anyone know you were not knowledgeable about something.” She began to giggle.



Severus rolled his eyes and they stopped in front of the entrance to Hermione’s rooms. He looked at her amused face and could not help but smile himself. “Goodnight, Hermione, thank you for an..ah..educating evening.” He leaned in, kissed her cheek, and watched her enter her rooms after bidding him a goodnight.



He went to his rooms, removed his clothing, and entered the bathroom. He needed a nice hot shower. He dropped his boxer shorts and prepared to enter the tub, unaware that at the same moment, Hermione was getting ready to shower as well.



Hermione stripped down and pulled on a fluffy robe. Still giggling, she went to start her shower. She opened the door and came face to, um, bum, with a very naked Severus Snape.



“OH, I’m so sorry, sir.” She exclaimed, her face burning with embarrassment. Severus jumped into the air startled and turned around to find the source of the intrusion. In his shock, he forgot about his lack of clothing.



As he turned around, Hermione’s eyes roamed down his sculpted chest and stopped on his penis. She quickly covered her eyes and ran from the room. Severus looked down at his non-clothed self and sighed. Well, that was not the way he wanted the evening to end.