The long and winding road to love

“Falling in love”







“The long and winding road to love”

 

Chapter one: The library incident.

 

Life had never been easy for Hermione Granger. And this
particular night was not one of the jolliest in her life. Not only did she feel
sad and gloomy but empty as well. And that, if I daresay, is one of the darkest
of feelings.

 

I hope you don’t mind me asking but… have you ever
felt the excruciating pains that only emptiness provokes? Have you felt a black
hole in your soul without knowing the exact cause of it? Have you ever walked
without accurately knowing where your feet will lead you?

 

For Hermione Granger, at least, those thoughts and
sensations had become as regular as breathing. And she did not like it. She did
not like it at all.

 

Growing up is difficult. Adolescence was difficult for
Plato, back in Greece thousands of years ago, and it is still one of the most painful periods
in human life. Hermione was not used to crying, but lately she felt like
sobbing during Potion’s classes, at lunch, or late at night when no one but
herself could see the mess that she had transformed into.

 

The uncertainty was eating Hermione from the inside,
and she couldn’t make it stop. She tried, oh gods! How much she tried, but so
far, nothing had worked.

 

You see, for scholars such as Hermione, there is a
solution for every problem, and said answer always resides in books. And so she
had sneaked under Harry’s invisibility cloak for weeks trying to find an
incantation, a potion, anything that could help her. But it didn’t really
matter how long she looked; she would find nothing but a headache.

 

This particular night, the night of the incident, she
was feeling rather dizzy and her eyes were playing tricks on her mind; she kept
imagining dark shadows spying fromind ind bookshelves, but no one could be
there, or could they? No.

 

“Probably a house elf,” she thought to herself, while
rubbing her eyes with her right hand. They were red and puffy, and somehow she
knew that despite her current weakness she wouldn’t be able to sleep that
night. Like every night, she would spend countless hours staring at the ceiling
while she cried a river of tears over her lost youth.

 

Exactly, Hermione was afraid of the future. Hermione
feared something that did not exist; something that depended entirely on her
strength, something that no one but herself could manage to carve. Because
William Shakespeare had the right idea when he said that it wat int in the
stars to hold destiny withwithin us. Yes, he had the right idea.

 

Anyhow it was very late and just as she was placing “Most
Potente Potions” back onto the right shelf, a voice - a very profound, manly
voice, that could belong to no one but “him”
interrupted her every move. It was Severus Snape, Hogwarts most feared, most
powerful Potion’s Master, and Hermione’s least favourite person in the world.

 

“Miss Granger,” He said silkily from the shadows, his
face was not entirely visible, but somehow she knew that her pale complexion
would look even paler under the moonlight coming from the library window. “May
I asked what on earth are you doing in the library at
this time of night?” he asked, not raising his tone of voice in the least.

 

Hermione was speechless; she knew she would have to
come up with an excuse and quickly, because she was in trouble. She was in
deep, deep trouble. And she wondered why she had allowed the invisibility cloak
to slip from her shoulders; if she wouldn’t have been so reckless, maybe, just
maybe, she would be heading back to the Gryffindor Common Room by now.

 

But it hardly seemed the moment to regret her past
actions.

 

“Well, Miss Granger…,” he said, once again from a safe
distance. But he was closer; she could feel his presence in the air. She
wondered why her sixth sense hadn’t alerted her to Professor Snape’s presence
in the room.

 

“The shadows,” she said out loud, answering her own
thoughts, and not the question presented to her. But Professor Snape was not
the least bit interested in Hermione’s thoughts.

 

“The shadows, Miss Granger, how interesting…. May I inquire
as to which shadows those are? But above all things, are they talking to you,
Miss Granger?” he said sarcastically, a smirk on his face. But, of course,
Hermione was not able to see his expressions. He was still in the dark, but the
moonlight was slowly revealing his black hair. Soon enough, she would be face
to face with her Potions essoessor.

 

And she did not like the idea; she did not like the
idea at all.

 

“No, Professor… I was on Head Girl’s duty. I was
searching for students out in the corridors and I came across some shadows; the
shadows I was talking to you about,” she said swallowing. Snape’s forehead was
visible now and his skin, somehow, reminded her of vampires. She had never
believed the rumours of Snape actually being a vampire, but he sure looked like
one now, “and I felt the necessity, as Head Girl, to investigate,” she lied.

 

“I see. And, please Miss Granger, enlighten me as to
why you were wearing an invisibility cloak while watching the library’s corridors
and furthermore, why you were reading a book from the Restricted Section?” he shouted,
his face now completely visible and only inches away from Hermione. She
swallowed, trying not to look so scared. She didn’t like to give him that
satisfaction.

 

“I always hold an invisibility cloak while watching
the corridors in the middle of the night, sir… for…er… security measures,
that’s it!” she said grinning.

 

“And the book, Miss Granger? Why were you reading a
potions book? Are you planning on poisoning someone? Confess, Miss Granger!” He
shouted at the top of his lungs, trying to intimidate her. He did not believe
she was trying to poison anyone, but maybe a forced confession would grant him
the ability to deduct points from Gryffindor, his favourite job in the world.

 

“No, Professor, I was intending to poison myself,” she
confessed, a tear running down her cheek.

 

“Miss Granger, what are you…” he tried to ask, but she
did not give him the time to do so. Knowing perfectly well that she would
regret doing it in the morning, she started running towards Gryffindor Tower,
where, at least, she could cry without being interrogated about it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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