Sing A Song

Hermione sat in the library of 12 Grimmauld Place surrounded by books, as usual. When she woke that morning, she had high hopes of reading, and taking copious notes, on her new Transfiguration text. But the noise from the sitting room was a bit more than distracting.

When she could no longer stand it, she marched into the room across the hall and glared at her giggling peers.

“I don’t know what’s going on in here,” she said, hands on her hips, “but some of us would like to be prepared when school starts back. We only have three more weeks, and…”

“Come on, Mione!” Ron exclaimed, rolling his eyes. “We have plenty of time for studying when we get to school. Come see Fred and George’s new invention.”

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest and looked down her nose at the group. “I hardly have time to look at whatever new way they’ve come up with to get out of classes,” she said haughtily.

“But it’s great, Mione,” Ginny said, going over to the other girl and trying to pull her into the room. “And it has nothing to do with getting out of class.”

With a huff, Hermione let Ginny pull her closer to what the group was huddled around, her curiosity getting the better of her. Her brow furrowed when she saw what they were looking at.

“A microphone? What are you doing with a muggle microphone?” she asked.

“It’s not just a microphone,” George said, looking very proud.

“It’s an enchanted microphone,” Fred said, mirroring George’s expression.

“What does it do?” she asked.

“Harry told us about karaoke,” Ron said.

“And we thought it was brilliant,” said George.

“So we enchanted the microphone” said Fred.

“to pick a song…”

“based on a person’s emotions…”

“and project the lyrics…”

“right in front of you!”

Hermione was a bit dizzy from turning her head back and forth between the twins as they spoke. It was interesting, but also really annoying when they finished each other’s thoughts.

“So the microphone reads the person’s emotions, picks an appropriate song, and then puts the lyrics up so you can read them?” she summarized.

“Not only that,” Harry said. “Once you’ve grabbed it, you can’t let go of the thing until you’ve finished the song.”

“What if you just refuse to sing the song?” she asked.

“You’ll get a bit of shock until you play along,” George and Fred said in unison, beaming as if this was the best part.

“A bit?” Ron exclaimed. “That thing made my bloody hair stand up for an hour!”

“We’ve tweaked it a bit since we tried it out on you,” Fred said, ruffling Ron’s hair.

“It’s nice to have such a willing guinea pig,” George said.

“Wanna have a go?” Fred said, holding the microphone out to Hermione.

“Oh, no!” Hermione said, looking panicked and backing away, her arms firmly planted in her armpits. “I do not sing.”

“Come on,” Ginny said. “We’ve all done it.”

“You should have heard Harry’s rendition of ‘Till There Was You’,” Ron said while Harry blushed furiously, and Ginny beamed.

“Yeah Ron, and you’re version of 'Heroes' made David Bowie roll over in his grave,” Fred teased.

“David Bowie’s not dead,” Hermione pointed out.

“Whatever,” Fred dismissed. “What song will you sing for us?”

“No song,” Hermione said firmly. She turned, but stopped when she got to the door. “I am trying to study, so if you don’t mind keeping it down.” With that, she turned on her heel and went back to the library.

The rest of the group looked around at each other. Fred and George shared a look, or perhaps a thought, and then smiled at the rest of the group.

“We have a plan.”

****************************************************************************************

Everyone was at headquarters for dinner that night. Even Snape, who had come in to give Dumbledore his report, and had gotten lassoed into staying for dinner by the older wizard. Hermione had forgotten all about George and Fred’s microphone as she chatted with Tonks about her upcoming class schedule.

After dinner, Molly turned down Hermione’s offer to help clear the table. She was heading towards the stairs, already thinking about going over her notes from earlier when she heard her name being called.

“Hey, Hermione! Catch!”

She turned and on instinct, caught the object Fred had hurled her way. As soon as it hit her hands, Fred yelled “Cantoatum!” and she felt a tingle run through her arm.

Anger and panic filled her eyes and she stared from the microphone in her hand to the people around her.

“Wow that really was easy,” Ron marveled.

“Fred! What have you done?” Hermione yelled even as music was starting to swirl around her, and golden words formed in front of her eyes. Seeing the first few lyrics, she looked panicked around the room and saw the one person she did not want to see.

“What’s going on?” Dumbledore asked, noticing the commotion.

“Fred and George just wanted to test out a new invention,” Harry explained, hoping the wizard wouldn’t be angry.

“Just some after dinner entertainment,” Fred explained, still watching Hermione.

“Excellent,” Dumbledore said, clapping his hands. Beside him, Snape sneered and crossed his arms.

“Ow!” Hermione said, trying to shake the microphone from her hand without success.

“You better sing along or you’ll get another shock!” Ginny warned.

“I’m not bloody singing!” Hermione shrieked, and was promptly shocked as the song’s intro started over again.

“That’s ok,” Fred said. “It took Harry eight shocks before he started singing like a bird.”

It took Hermione ten shocks before she gathered all her Gryffindor courage, and began singing in a quiet voice, staring at the floor.


“There's a part of me you'll never know
The only thing I'll never show

Hopelessly I'll love you endlessly
Hopelessly I'll give you everything
But I won't give you up
I won't let you down
And I won't leave you falling
If the moment ever comes.”

The room had fallen quiet at the first line of the chorus, but Hermione’s eyes stayed glued to the floor.

“It's plain to see it's trying to speak
Cherished dreams forever asleep

Hopelessly I'll love you endlessly
Hopelessly I'll give you everything
But I won't give you up
I won't let you down
And I won't leave you falling
If the moment ever comes.”

Her voice gained strength, but she kept her eyes down. A tiny rebellious part of her kept trying to raise her amber eyes to see his reaction. But she had never had any intention of ever making these feelings known. She allowed herself the wild thought of actually looking straight at him for the last chorus. She squeezed her eyes shut.


“Hopelessly I'll love you endlessly
Hopelessly I'll give you everything
But I won't give you up
I won't let you down
And I won't leave you falling
But the moment never comes.”

The microphone fell to the carpet as the last note faded. No one could react before Hermione fled from the room, and, grabbing her cloak, from the house.

“Well,” Dumbledore said as all eyes turned to him. “Perhaps you boys have a bit more work to do on your invention.” He gave the boys a stern but twinkling look before turning to Snape. “Severus, I shall meet you back at Hogwarts.” Then he, too, left.


Hermione had only walked a block before finding a bus stop bench. She collapsed, her face burning and her heart pounding. That had been horrible, humiliating…and strangely freeing. Finally, after years of denying her feelings, she had been able to express them right in front of him. Granted, he didn’t know she was thinking about him, but that didn’t matter. She had technically said exactly what she had been wanting to say for years, and without the inevitable embarrassment of his rejection.

“Can’t be rejected if he doesn’t know it’s him,” she muttered to herself.

“I’m afraid all of the ‘hims’ that witnessed your performance now believe they are the object of your affections, Miss Granger,” came the condescending response that startled her out of her thoughts.

Her heart caught in her throat as she looked up at the glowering potions master. “Professor?”

“Weasley, of course, assumed you were meant him,” Snape sneered. “But Miss Weasley seemed most upset when the twins suggested you meant Potter.”

“Oh no,” Hermione breathed, her shoulders slumping.

Snape arched an eyebrow. “You don’t mean the twins were right?” he said in near disgust.

Hermione shook her head absently.

Snape seemed to relax even as he folded his arms across his chest.

“Then I’m sure Mr. Weasley will be most pleased to discover he was right,” he said with his trademark disdain.

“But he’s not,” Hermione whispered. Her mouth clamped shut as she realized what she had said and she focused her gaze straight ahead, and not at the towering man beside her.

“One of the twins, then?” Snape teased. “Weasley is sure to…”

He trailed off as he noticed her slowly shaking her head. He regarded her curiously for a moment. Slowly, she turned her eyes to him, and he was taken aback by the openness of her gaze. He opened his mouth, ready to release a snarky comment, but stopped as comprehension dawned on him.

Hermione’s heart was pounding as she saw the realization cross his face. His features seemed to soften for a moment, but it was fleeting, and Hermione later wondered if she had seen the change at all.

“Miss Granger,” he began sternly.

Hermione popped off the park bench before he could finish.

“I need to get back to the house, Professor Snape,” she said, moving past him. She stopped a few feet away, and looked back. “Good night Professor.” Then she went quickly to the house.

Severus watched her go, and stood there long after she was gone.

“Sometimes hope is all we have,” he said, finishing his thought to no one.

There was a pop as he apparated from the street.

AN: See? That was fun, right? Now go chase your bunny and post it here!
Songs mentioned are "Til There Was You" by The Beatles, "Heroes" by David Bowie, and "Endlessly" by Muse.