Walls of Jericho

Walls of Jericho

Aftershocks

By the time Albus Dumbledore managed to get his surprisingly spry self to the dungeon lab, the group of test takers had divided themselves into two large groups: those who were affected and those who were not.

The afflicted group had split itself into subgroups, most of whom were wearing none-too-pleased expressions.

Draco and the twins were glaring mistrustfully. Ron, Harry and Erin were busy looking everywhere but at each other. Stewart and Marta were attempting to see just how far apart they could move before they were pulled back. Neville was apologizing profusely to Mr. Bricman, and Snape was doing his best not to snap as Hermione paced just within the invisible ten-foot radius afforded them.

\"I\'ve been told there was an accident, Severus?\"

Snape closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. \"Mr. Longbottom was not content with merely failing his NEWT; he attempted to destroy the laboratory and eliminate all the witnesses at the same time.\"

Hermione saw Neville\'s lip quiver before he pulled himself together enough to protest.

\"That\'s not true. I just...\"

Snape whirled and advanced on the younger man, menace radiating from each step. Hermione reluctantly followed, several feet behind. \"You just what? Messed up? Caused another accident? Too busy thinking of girls, Mr. Longbottom? Boys? That disgusting familiar of yours? What feeble excuse do you have this time?\"

\"That is enough, Severus.\"

Another graceful turn on the ball of his foot and Snape was once again facing the Headmaster. \"Do you have any idea what he did this time?\"

\"Do you?\" Dumbledore seemed more curious than concerned about the newest lab incident.

Snape threw his arms out to indicate the affected parties. \"Look at us! That bumbling menace some how managed to bind us all to someone else. Me! Stuck to ... to ... her!\"

A long time ago Hermione had admitted to herself that Professor Snape had his moments of excessive hotness, especially when he was feeling passionate about something. Something about the heated darkness in his gaze, and the faint quiver of his lower lip.

This, however, was not one of those times. Any faint quiver or heated darkness was greatly overshadowed by the flying drops of spittle being projected in her direction as he turned and pointed at her.

\"I can assure you it\'s not all sunshine and roses for me, either.\" Hermione mumbled under her breath as she scrubbed her hand across her cheek to remove the dampness.

\"What?\" Snape\'s eyes narrowed at her.

\"I said, how do we fix this? Sir.\"

Dumbledore stepped forward and placed a restraining hand on Snape\'s arm. The small curve of his lips and the twinkle in his eye told Hermione that he had heard her the first time. \"That\'s an excellent question, Miss Granger. Any thoughts, Severus?\"

Before Snape could speak, Dumbledore turned to the unaffected students. \"I\'d like each of you to drop by the infirmary later today and let Madam Pomfrey give you a once over, just to be safe. You\'re excused for now.\"

– ~ –

After a few moments it became apparent that Professor Snape was not in the mood for the Headmaster\'s sense of humor, especially after the second or third quip about being \"too attached\" to one\'s work.

Hermione looked for something, anything, that would distract thefurious Potions Master from whatever homicidal thoughts he was brewing. After all, if he killed Dumbledore or Neville and was sentenced to Azkaban, she would be forced to follow. It was for her own self-preservation that Hermione dared to approach the brooding man whose wand hand was already beginning to flex in preparation for something Hermione could only assume would be Very Bad.

\"Professor?\" She reached out, her hand stopping just shy of actually touching the black cloth of his robes.

\"What now, Miss Granger?\" His tone was pure acid, and the look he gave her before dropping his glare to her outstretched hand would have made first-year Hermione burst into tears (in a suitably secluded spot, of course). However, Hermione had built up a bit of resistance to bitter glares and harsh tones over the years and managed to refrain from rolling her eyes in response.

\"Shouldn\'t the lab be quarantined, sir?\"

She could tell he wanted to come back with a cutting remark, something guaranteed to make her doubt her own intelligence, but she was right. And it was probably killing him to that he hadn\'t thought of it first. She was close enough that she could hear his teeth grinding together.

Neville began to apologize yet again, and Professor Snape cut him off with a look. \"How generous of you to volunteer to assist Mr. Longbottom when he cleans the laboratory, Miss Granger. By hand.\"

His lips curled into that sadistic smirk he used whenever he got the better of someone.

She wanted to protest -- the lab was a disaster area -- but at least he wasn\'t contemplating the Headmaster\'s death. Yet.

Before Hermione could respond, Dumbledore spoke. \"I believe it would be prudent for everyone to relocate to the infirmary. Please refrain from touching anyone ... or thing ... until we find out if this condition is contagious.\" His grandfatherly tone had finally lost all hints of humor.

Professor Snape watched Bricman begin to lead the others away before he quietly spoke. \"As Miss Granger took pains to remind us, the laboratory needs to be secured. I will present myself to Madam Pomfrey after I have completed my duties here.\"

Dumbledore nodded in response and followed the single-file line of students down the corridor. She could have sworn that he winked at her as he turned away.

Professor Snape stood staring at the closed lab door for so long Hermione began to suspect he had forgotten she was there. She was debating whether or not to announce herself when he spoke.

\"I have to assess the damage in the laboratory, find out if Longbottom\'s accident is still volatile. I suppose it\'s too much to hope that you stay out of my way?\"

Hermione glared at his back. \"I\'ll do my best, Professor.\" She saw his spine stiffen at her tone and prepared herself for a lecture.

Instead, he cautiously opened the door and peered in. She tried to peek around him, but his body filled the small opening and she didn\'t want to provoke him further by invading his personal space. Anymore than she had to, that is.

He began to step forward, and she nearly grabbed a handful of his robe to still him. He caught the aborted movement of her hand out of the corner of his eye and paused for a moment. \"It appears dormant, Miss Granger, although I will need to get closer to ascertain that for a fact.\"

Snape looked into the room and back to the disheveled young woman behind him. \"The eruption has left quantities of the ... substance all over the floor. Given our current limitations I\'m going to have to insist that you stay directly behind me while we are in the laboratory. Step where I step and touch nothing.\"

Coming from Professor Snape, the man who believed that allowing a student to break into painful boils was an acceptable teaching tool, those words almost seemed to convey an unprecedented concern for her well being. Or he was afraid she would be killed and the Headmaster would be peeved.

Either way, Hermione nodded and very carefully followed him into the room. She peeked around his robes when he stopped moving.

The cauldron was silent and encased in the red slime that seemed to have hardened to the consistency of rubbery gelatin. Hermione had the urge to poke it with a stirring rod to see if the mass would jiggle. The urge made her want to laugh, but she held it back knowing the professor wouldn\'t be likely to appreciate the humor.

Hermione noticed that he was casting a spell over the failed potion. The mass glowed blue, and he mumbled something under his breath.

\"What was that, sir?\" She bit her lip, fully prepared to accept an angry glare and a sharp word for daring to interrupt him. It was a testament to how deeply puzzling Neville\'s creation was that Professor Snape didn\'t snap at her. He simply repeated his thoughts, as if saying them aloud would make things clearer.

\"By all appearances the potion is dormant, but the blue color indicates a continued reaction. Fetch a stirring rod.\"

Instinct kicked in and Hermione moved to the supply cabinet to get one. She was thankful that the bits of red goop on the floor had her moving cautiously as the tingle in her body gave her almost no warning before pulling her up short at the end of her invisible tether. She glanced back at Snape to find him impatiently pointing to the table in front of Neville\'s. Where a miraculously untouched stirring rod lay.

Hermione scrambled to reach the other table, having to suck in her breath to squeeze past Neville\'s table without touching anything and still remain within ten feet of the professor. Bastard could have moved a step or two to the side to give me more room.

She stood opposite him at the table and slapped the rod into his outstretched hand with more force than was strictly necessary. An arched eyebrow and an indulgent look were his reply.

Hesitantly Professor Snape tapped the mass with the stirring rod. Much to Hermione\'s amusement it did ripple and jiggle. With careful precision Snape prodded the red gelatin, the rod sliding into it with little effort. Hermione held her breath as he pulled the stirring rod out and held it up for inspection. She looked from the jelly oozing down the rod to Professor Snape.

\"What, exactly, did Longbottom add to his cauldron, Miss Granger?\"

\"I don\'t know, sir. I wasn\'t paying attention to his work.\" She felt defensive when he issued a disbelieving snort. \"It was the NEWT, sir. I had my own potion to concentrate on. Neville has been working just fine on his own most of the year.\" When you don\'t hover behind him like some kind of wrathful shadow, that is.

She narrowed her eyes as a thought occurred to her. \"You were watching us the entire time, what did you see him add?\"

He pulled back from the table, stirring rod still in hand, and looked down his nose at her. \"There were thirty students in this exam room, Miss Granger. I could hardly be expected to closely monitor each and every one, every second of the exam.\"

It was on the tip of her tongue to remind him that he managed to do just that several times a day in the classroom and that if anybody was likely to have an accident it would have been Neville -- a fact Snape was well aware of -- when the Potions Master did something so unexpected Hermione could only blink in response. His cheeks flooded with a pale red intensity, the color standing out against the slight sallow quality of his skin.

Why would he be ... Before she could puzzle through the thought Snape flinched, a pained look of surprise on his face. The stirring rod fell from his fingers and bounced off the table top.

Reflexively Hermione reached out with both hands and caught it.

Searing pain lanced through both palms and tears welled up in her eyes. She tried to drop the jelly-covered rod but the muscles in her hands locked up.

Snape seemed to understand because he grasped her wrists with his surprisingly strong hands and pulled them apart. The rod fell and harmlessly rolled off the table to rest against the leg of a stool.

Hermione stared at the angry red blisters on her palms. Blisters that began to absorb back into her skin as she watched, leaving only the painful redness she recognized from the earlier chemical burns. Snape mumbled something, but the words were faint to her, everything but the intense pain in her hands was fading away. She hardly noticed the jar of salve fly across the room to Snape\'s hand, or the almost frantic quality of his voice as he barked out instructions she couldn\'t comprehend.

The blisters -- a detached part of her mind realized -- were not blisters at all. They had been remnants of the potion transferred from the stirring rod to her hands. And then ...

\"It absorbed. Into my skin.\" She looked up, for the first time noticing that Professor Snape had rounded the table to her side and was scooping burn salve out of the jar. He carefully cradled her hand in one of his and began to apply the salve to her palm.

\"Are you positive?\" He paused to search her face before coating her other palm.

\"I thought I had blistered from the burn, but it was the gel. It definitely soaked in.\" The salve was beginning to work, the pain numbing to the point were she could once again think. Professor Snape quickly applied salve to his own burn, the one that cause his flinch in the first place.

He studied her face again, his uninjured hand grasping her chin to tilt her face up toward the light. Unbidden thoughts of half-formed day dreams that began in a similar manner slammed through her.

He leaned closer and Hermione managed to suck in a gasping breath.

\"Your pupils are dilated. Breathing is erratic. You may be suffering from a reaction to the potion, Miss Granger.\" Her lips parted on another gasping breath at the worried tone of his voice. Snape frowned, the hand on her chin gently slid down the column of her throat to rest against her pulse. \"Your heart is racing. Are you able to walk? We need to get you to Madam Pomfrey immediately.\"

She wanted to assure him she was fine, but the words stuck in her throat. She nodded.

\"What are you waiting for? Move.\" His normal tone, the one that implied that teaching you was a waste of his precious time, was back. It was enough to break Hermione\'s stupor. Without a word she turned and hurried toward the door.

– ~ –

Severus hadn\'t seen so much activity in the infirmary since the first Quidditch match after He-Who ... Voldemort fell for the final time. Tensions had still been high half a year after the last battle and when that Hufflepuff caught the snitch chaos erupted. People had been spoiling for a fight, a chance to work out all the anger and frustration, and all it took was one Gryffindor commenting on the Slytherin loss to start the whole thing. Hermione Granger herself had ended up with a black eye trying to separate a Ravenclaw and a Gryffindor. A fact Severus still found ... amusing.

Madam Pomfrey was bustling about, popping in and out of curtained enclosures. The afflicted students and Bricman seemed disoriented, most likely due to Poppy\'s unceasing commentary as she worked rather than any affect from Longbottom\'s catastrophe. Albus stood in the center of it all with a small smile upon his face. Trust him to find the situation amusing.

Poppy finished whatever it was she was doing and paused in the center of the infirmary. \"That should do it then. Everyone off to gather your things now.\"

As the others began to leave, Severus wrapped a long-fingered hand around Granger\'s arm and pulled her farther into the room, against the tide of outgoing bodies. \"Madam Pomfrey, Miss Granger needs your attention.\"

Potter and Weasley, who halted Meers with a touch on the arm, froze when they heard Granger\'s name, and Severus regretted not waiting until they were gone. Granger tugged against his hold and tried to pull away.

\"Miss Granger, what\'s wrong, dear?\" Granger tugged all the harder when Poppy questioned her.

\"Are you okay, Hermione? What happened?\" Potter was worried. Wonderful.

Granger gave up resisting and let him lead her to Poppy, muttering all the way. \"I\'m fine, Harry. Madam Pomfrey. Really, I just got a little lightheaded earlier but now I\'m perfectly fine.\"

He deposited his charge in front of the medi-witch and turned to glare at her annoying little friends. \"Madam Pomfrey has given you instructions. Begone. Miss Granger certainly does not need your assistance.\"

Granger mumbled something under her breath, but before he could turn on her Poppy pulled her to one of the few remaining unenclosed beds. Severus reluctantly followed. Only to be stopped short by Poppy\'s disapproving look as she insisted Granger sit on the bed. He grunted as he turned his back to the bed and crossed his arms. \"This is as far as I can go. I\'m afraid you\'ll have to make do.\"

\"That horrid accident has made for a shameful lack of privacy, if you ask me.\" Poppy\'s voice was aggravating the headache that had been steadily building since the accident.

No one asked you. Severus felt his teeth grind together.

There was a faint rustle from the area of the bed. \"I\'m fine, Madam Pomfrey. Too much excitement.\"

Another rustle and Poppy\'s voice pierced through the pain center in his brain. \"Even if you are feeling better, you should lie down and rest where I can keep an eye on you. Just to be safe, child.\" She raised her voice to be heard over Granger\'s protests. \"But first you and the professor need to gather whatever you\'re going to need for your stay in the infirmary. I\'ve already arranged your beds.\"

Severus spun on one booted heel. \"What did you just say?\" The curtained enclosures suddenly made horrific sense. \"You don\'t honestly expect me to stay here with all of those... I can assure you, Poppy, that if I have to subject myself to the presence of Longbottom for another minute more I will do something unforgivable.\"

He barely noticed Granger hurriedly sitting up in the bed and frantically adjusting her robes to cover her knees.

Poppy planted her hands on her hips. \"You\'ll have privacy. That\'s what the curtains are for, Severus.\"

\"No. Absolutely not. I will not do it.\" Granger seemed to be watching the exchange with interest.

\"Mr. Bricman is...\"

\"Is not me. He hasn\'t spent every day of the past seven years surrounded by these students from the morning meal to curfew until he could retire to the peace and solitude of his private chambers.\"

\"What would you suggest, Severus?\" The Headmaster made his presence known and moved to stand next to Granger. \"Don\'t forget that Miss Granger is also bound by your decision.\" Even with the beard for camouflage, Severus could see the old goat found his little pun amusing.

Unfortunately, he didn\'t have an answer.

\"What about Professor Snape\'s quarters?\" When her query was met with silence, Granger gestured at the closest curtain. \"Couldn\'t something like this could be set up in the professor\'s space, just as easily as it was here.\"

\"Surely you\'re not suggesting ...\" began Poppy as Albus stroked his beard and studied the space just above Severus\' left shoulder.

\"No. I will not have a student in my private quarters.\"

\"Former student, Severus.\" Unfazed by the Potion Master\'s glare, Albus continued to stroke his beard. \"There would have to be a few charms in place, strictly for propriety sake, of course. A few temporary modifications.

\"And written permission from Miss Granger\'s parents. For our files.\"

--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--
A/N - Sorry about the huge wait for this chapter. My husband was assigned to a new base in another state which required a household move. And then he was deployed to Iraq in January. It\'s been a bit chaotic.

My wonderful Beta Rewil has this to say about the chapter. \"Jelly-covered rod! Hee! Jelly-covered rod! Yes, I\'m so 12 I\'m 11. It\'s still funny.\"