A Dark Scenario

Chapter 22 ~ Harvesting

Snape and Hermione landed outside the two small cabins Minerva had arranged for them. Snape dismounted and dropped his bag of daisy roots in front of Hermione.

"Prepare those," he said, turning and unlocking the door to his cabin.

Hermione put her hands on her hips.

"You expect me to prepare both the daisy roots and the Snapdragons?" she asked him, incensed he was shirking work.

"Did I stutter?"

For just a moment Hermione considered hitting him with a spell of his own creation, the Langlock. Let him try to give her orders with his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth.

"It's not fair," she stated flatly. "Why do I have to do all the preparation?"

"I have an early morning tomorrow, Hermione. I need my 'beauty' sleep," Snape said and entered the cabin, closing the door firmly behind him.

"You could sleep for a thousand years and still crack a mirror, you git," Hermione muttered bad-naturedly under her breath as she picked up the bag of daisy roots. She tucked her broom under her arm, opened the door, picked up the bag of Snapdragons and bustled through, kicking the door closed behind her.

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When Hermione awoke, the sun was streaming through the cabin window. She blinked and sat up in the bed, then looked at the clock on the wall. It was almost noon!

"Bloody hell," she hissed, rolling out of bed.

She did a quick wash, dressed and stormed out of the door and over to Snape's cabin, banging on the door. Why did he let her sleep so late?

"Severus Snape, open this door right now!"

She continued to pound on the door but there was no answer.

"All right," she said through gritted teeth, pulling out her wand. She'd let herself in, then give him a piece of her mind. She didn't want to waste a lot of time but get this over with. She was tired of him ordering her around like a peon.

Suddenly, there was a crack behind her that made her jump, then spin, pointing her wand directly at the DADA teacher. Snape frowned at her.

"Lower your wand, you silly woman," he hissed.

Hermione did so, staring at his robes. They were ripped and tattered and he had a bit of dirt on his face.

"What happened to you?" she asked him.

"I'd rather not talk about it. Have you eaten yet? We have to go," he said impatiently.

"No, but I have a couple of pumpkin pasties in my carry-all."

"Get them."

Brimming over with curiosity, Hermione quickly retrieved the pasties as Snape retrieve a sack. She walked out with her broom.

"No brooms today," he said. "Put it back."

Hermione frowned at him, then returned the broom to the cabin. She walked out and locked the door, then turned to him.

"Where were you?"

"Don't question me," Snape said a bit harshly as he grabbed her arm and Disapparated.

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They appeared on rocky terrain and before them was a tall, craggy mountain and a post driven into the ground. A chain led away from it to –well nothing.

Suddenly, Hermione felt cold wash over her as Snape cast a Disillusionment spell on her, then himself.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Keep your blasted voice down."

Hermione heard Snape rustle about before she was covered in a stench that made her nose hairs burn.

"Oh my gods! What is that?" she hissed, wringing her hands.

She heard a spraying noise and a fresh bout of stench hit her again.

"Camouflage," came Snape's reply. By the sound of his voice, he was very amused.

"Finite Incantatum," he breathed, and Hermione saw a bull with very long horns melt into view. It was chained to the post, petrified and had a few strips of black fabric on the end of one of the horns. So, that's what happened to Snape's robes. Hermione couldn't help smirking. She wished she could have been there.

She felt Snape catch hold of her arm and pull her back from the bull a few feet.

"Get down on your belly," he ordered, "and lie very, very still. Dragons have sharp eyes and can detect us if we aren't careful."

Dragons? Holy Hectate. They were going after the scales. But, what—how were they going to get them?

Hermione did as he ordered and felt him lie down beside her. Snape removed the Petrification spell from the bull and Hermione recoiled in horror as she heard the dark wizard hiss, "Sectumsempra!" several times, slashing the bull until it was bloody and bellowing in pain.

"What are you doing?" she whispered as blood pooled on the ground. The slashes were bleeding profusely.

"Baiting. Now, be quiet!"

Hermione fell silent as the bull continued bellowing and stumbling about. Suddenly she heard a cry and looked up. In the side of the mountain was a cave and standing in the mouth of it were two dragons. Her heart began to pound as they leapt into the air and circled above the bellowing bull. They dropped down, landing on either side of the animal, which lowered its horns. These dragons were about the size of horses, very young. Hermione watched in fascinated horror as they first tried to physically attack the bull, which gouged at them with its horns.

They took turns biting at the bull, one of them snagging a leg before the bull kicked back, catching it in the face. It let out a cry and retreated. Then, the other drew in a breath, its sides swelling as a bellows-like noise filled the air. The other dragon caught on and did the same. Hermione watched as the baby dragons flamed the bull, covering it in fire, the animal's bellowing renews as it was scorched, the stench of burned flesh filling the air.

The dragons were too young to fully cook the bull, but it fell and they leapt upon it, tearing hunks of meat from its shuddering body.

"Petrify the one on the right," Snape hissed at her. "On the count of three. One—two—"

Witch and wizard cast the Petrification spell and it took hold. It wouldn't have stopped a full-grown dragon but these youngsters were not yet mature enough to throw off a spell. Magic didn't always work well on magical creatures. The animals froze.

"Come on," Snape said, rising quickly and removing the Disillusionment spell. He looked up at the sky, then approached the dragons with his wand drawn. Hermione followed.

"Take the scales from the tail," he said. "It will do the least damage. Use the Sectumsempra spell."

"Oh, Severus," she said. "That's going to hurt them."

"This is not the time for you to show that bleeding heart of yours. The mother will be returning soon and its best she not find us here. Now, do it!"

Hermione watched as Snape used the spell to remove the scales, slashing sideways so as not to cut too deeply into the flesh. He was scraping the scales away. The eyes of the dragon were rolling wildly. It was in pain, but unable to move.

"Don't just stand there!" Snape hissed at her.

Hermione began to remove the scales from the tail of her dragon, quickly stuffing them into the open bag on the ground. Suddenly a shadow passed over them, followed by an outraged roar. Snape pushed Hermione roughly aside as a white hot burst of flame hit where she'd been standing.

"Mummy's back," he hissed, grabbing the bag of scales and Disapparating, leaving Hermione. She looked up and saw the dragon bearing down on her, talons extended as it dove. It was the size of two elephants and pissed.

"Shit!" Hermione gasped, Disapparating just as the beast crashed to the ground, its talons gouging holes in the rocky soil.

She found Snape in his cabin, calmly spreading out the harvested dragon scales on a long table. He looked up.

"You made it," he said shortly.

"No thanks to you! You left me!"

"You are completely capable of Apparating, as your presence here proves," Snape said dismissively. "Now, come help me sort these according to size."

"I can't believe you," Hermione hissed, storming up to the table.

Snape didn't say anything but continued to spread out the scales. They had quite a haul.

"You're an utter bastard," the witch said, incensed as she started sorting the scales according to size.

"You say that like it's something new," he responded.

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A/N: Another little bit. I bet Snape had no problem slicing up that bull. Lol. I just want to pimp my animated snippets available on the Burning Pen. Now, the lemons don't have to be left entirely to the imagination, thanks to some very naughty digital manipulations I made of er . . . Snape and Hermione "engaging." Not for youngsters. ****