Very Nearly Veela

A flock of miniature harpies appeared above Hermione\'s head. The hideous creatures all wore identical smirking grins as they made the most horrible screeching sounds. She took a couple of deep breathes as the harpies circled her head, then aimed her wand at him and yelling “Oppugno!”, turned and fled.

Miniature harpies are far more vicious, strong and persistent than any canaries. They attempted to peck at his eyes, his nose, and any bit of flesh they could reach. He roared in pain and tried to block them the best he could with his arms, although he could feel their sharp beaks through the cloth of his robes.

Severus stumbled towards the fireplace and cursed as he knocked over the floo powder in his blindness. As the blood continued to pour over his face, he knelt and desperately groped with one hand until he found some of the spilled powder. He tossed it vaguely towards the fire, and not seeing that he had missed the fire, yelled “The Infirmary!” and tried to step through. The bottom of his robes caught on fire as Severus continued to yell “The Infirmary” over and over again. The fire ate through his robes and began to burn his pants. Severus screamed as he dropped to the ground and rolled around. The harpies gleefully continued to attack his face, and for the first time since boyhood, tears streamed down Severus\'s face.

Hermione ran through the castle, gasping as angry sobs escaped her. The portraits looked on with vague interest—sobbing schoolgirls were a dime a dozen, but sobbing semi-Veelas were an exotic sight indeed. Rationally, Hermione knew she\'d eventually have to return to Severus. No matter how he abused her, she needed him if she wanted to ever rid herself of the Veela curse. But the sense of betrayal was overwhelming. Half of her wanted to torture Severus in the most painful way possible, while the other half of her had wanted to wail and cry. Hermione desperately, desperately, wanted her mum. Or Harry or Ron. Harry would do.

a/n: yes, the chapter is very, very short. It seemed best to me to leave it open-ended and hopefully inspire others.