A Looping of the Scales ~ COMPLETED

Chapter 28 ~ When Emotions Run High

Hermione didn’t go out with Severus for the rest of the week. Instead, they spent about two hours studying together in the evening, then Snape would go out on his own. The saddle wouldn’t be ready until Saturday, so Hermione couldn’t accompany him, and he wanted to explore. So, they both benefited from the break.

Still, that Thursday night, Hermione got a small taste of Snape’s other magical skills. When she came to his quarters, he asked her would she mind helping him with a spell for his Defense Against the Dark Arts NEWTS.

”Sure,” she said, interested, putting down her knapsack.

”All right,” Snape said, moving the armchairs and small table out of the way and positioning Hermione directly on the hearth of the fireplace. It was lit and made the back of her legs very warm. She moved forward a little.

”No! Stay on the hearth! It’s important!” Snape said to her sharply.

He then picked a book off one of the shelves. It was black with no writing on it.

”Now, don’t open this book until I tell you to do it. You have to open the pages facing me,” he instructed. “Don’t look at the pages directly and stay on that hearth. Understand?”

Hermione nodded, holding the book and fighting the urge to open it.

Snape backed up and drew his wand, taking on a stance as if he were ready to swordfight.

He took a deep breath.

”All right. Open it!” he directed.

Hermione caught hold of both covers of the book and opened it toward him, then screamed as an enormous horned demon rushed out of it in a blast of black smoke and sulfur. It was glistening, scaled and sported huge, sharp fangs. It had a kind of dog face, smoke issuing from large black nostrils. It had a man’s upper torso, but huge and muscular, and its lower half seemed to be nothing but smoke. It slung its arms about and roared, the power of its voice shaking the quarters, its black sharp claws flexing. Its red eyes fell on Severus and it launched itself at him, jaws gaping.

Hermione screamed again, dropping the book as the demon furiously bore down on the wizard before it.

” REDIMIO!” Snape cried, a stream of blue and white light pouring from the tip of his wand and surrounding the demon, holding it in place as it roared fruitlessly. Snape held it there firmly, light whirling around the monster as if it were encased in churning water. Snape’s black eyes shifted to Hermione.

”Pick up the book and hold it open, Hermione!” he yelled over the creature’s roaring.

Her hands shaking, Hermione did as he asked, her heart pounding.

”REVERTO!” Snape hissed, and the demon let out a tortured roar and was sucked back into the book. Hermione slammed it closed, trembling. Snape put away his wand, walked over and took it from her, replacing it in its proper place on the shelf.

He walked back to Hermione, who seemed cemented in place.

”You can move now,” he said softly.

”What the hell was that?” she demanded as soon as she could speak.

”Defense Against the Dark Arts, of course. You don’t get much darker than angry, flesh-eating demons,” he said. He had placed Hermione on the hearth because the heat of it camouflaged her body temperature. This species of demon didn’t see well in the physical world but could sense Snape’s living heat signature in the room. That was what it went for first.

Hermione could finally move and looked around at all the books, then back at Severus. She’d been going through them willy-nilly. It was only luck that something hadn’t grabbed her.

”You have books that contain demons and didn’t tell me?” she asked him, incensed.

He blinked at her.

”What? I thought you knew,” he responded.

”I—I could have been killed!” she exclaimed.

”Yes, there is that, isn’t there? Well, you weren’t. That’s what really matters in the end, isn’t it?” he said unconcerned. He walked over to the desk and took out some parchment. Suddenly, he had a bad feeling and ducked as Hermione fired a stunner at him. It hit the desk harmlessly.

”Hey!” he cried, spinning, drawing his own wand and holding it defensively on the angry witch. Hermione’s eyes glinted as she looked at him.

”I can’t believe you didn’t tell me how dangerous some of these books are!” she seethed at him, her wand still out offensively.

”I can’t believe you didn’t have the common sense to know that,” he shot back at her. “You’re a seventh year, not a first year, Hermione. You’re taking DADA NEWTS too. One of the first things we learned in that class is to be careful with books.”

Hermione lowered her wand, reddening.

”Yes—but I didn’t think that you—“

Snape frowned at her.

”Hermione, you yourself told me I was a dark wizard. Why in the world wouldn’t you think I had books of Dark Magic? Even I knew that.”

”I don’t know what I was thinking,” she said, putting her wand away.

”You weren’t thinking,” Snape snapped at her, “and next time you fire a spell at me when my back is turned, be prepared to duel. I hate that. It’s cowardly.”

”What? I wasn’t being cowardly, I was being reactive,” Hermione retorted.

”I don’t care. I’ve had enough sneak attacks pulled on me to last two lifetimes,” he shot back at her, sitting down in one of the chairs at the desk, his jaw tight.

Hermione sat down next to the angry wizard and realized he was very upset about her firing a spell at him in that manner. She’d almost forgotten what his life had been like because he’d been so upbeat the past couple of days. She immediately regretted taking a shot at him.

”I’m sorry, Severus,” she said softly. “I didn’t—“

”I thought I could trust you,” he hissed, not looking at her.

Oh no. He wasn’t going to make a little anger shot a trust issue. No way. She hadn’t even hit him.

”What? You can trust me! Severus, I didn’t do that out of malice. I was just pissed off I could have been carried off by a demon and you didn’t tell me,” she responded. “I’m sorry. I’ll never do it again.”

Snape kept scowling.

”Stop acting like I was hiding behind a tree or something waiting for you to pass so I could get the drop on you. I’m not a Marauder. The Marauders are all dead! Even friends hex each other from time to time. It’s completely natural,” Hermione told him, getting angry now.

Severus really needed to grow up.

”Not for me,” he said. “Anytime I had to use a spell on someone, it was to protect myself, or in retribution for something done earlier.”

”You never once hexed Lily?” Hermione asked him curiously.

Snape looked at her wide-eyed.

”Hex Lily? Oh, no. She was murder with a wand,” he said. “Besides, she would have stopped being my friend if I did something like that. She even hated when I blasted roses. Not to mention James Potter and his group. She used to tell me to ‘ignore’ them, like they’d go away. They never did, and she basically joined them.”

Snape looked miserable again, and Hermione was sorry that she brought Lily up.

”Well, you’re going to have to learn how to hex people in a friendly kind of way,” she told him. “You don’t have to hurt them. You can stun them, levitate them, make them dance. A lot of things that aren’t painful or deadly. What fun is magic if you can’t turn it on a friend sometimes?”

”I’ve never had any friends to hex,” Snape said softly, looking at her.

”Harry’s a good target, but he knows how to scramble. If he sees you getting a bead on him, he’s off. Ron’s easier, but he retaliates the minute he throws the spell off, then starts a duel. He just has to throw the final spell, even if he misses. It’s like the last word or something with him.”

Snape thought he wouldn’t mind hexing Ron just to see him turn red enough to match his flaming hair. Even Harry sounded fun. His eyes began to narrow a little, and a wicked smirk crossed his pale face.

”But—you have to have a reason to do it,” Hermione added. “You just can’t hex them for entertainment.”

”I knew there was a catch,” Snape responded, feeling better. Hermione had just been upset when she tried to stun him. She didn’t really mean any harm.

“Come on, let’s get to work.”

Hermione opened her Arithmancy book, then looked at Snape.

”Oh, and Severus?”

”Hm?” he replied, opening his own book.

”Next time I’m going to let a flesh-eating demon out of a book or anything else with the potential to steal my immortal soul, please take a moment to tell me. That’s something a witch would like to know,” she said tightly, not wanting to start another fight.

”I’ll try and keep that in mind,” he responded shortly.

”You’re going to have to do better than that,” she snapped back, then got down to work.

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Hermione spent her Saturday as usual, tutoring students, although she would have preferred to be studying herself. She was on Harry and Ron like a Niffler on gold, scolding them.

”Just because I’m not around during the week doesn’t mean you two can skive off of your studies,” she said after giving them a small oral quiz that covered several subjects. “You both should have done better than that. I’m going to make a study schedule for the both of you immediately. It’s obvious you can’t be trusted to your own devices.”

Ron and Harry took the browbeating stoically. Hermione always yelled at them no matter what they did. If they got good marks on her tests, she simply would say she needed to make them harder. There was no praise or anything. She was just as hard a case as Snape had been, just nicer about being a study Nazi.

When their tutoring period was over, Ron asked Hermione how many hours she’d scheduled for socializing.

”Four hours,” she said, looking a little guilty.

”Wow, four hours? That’s a lot of time. Meet us at three on the Quidditch pitch?” Harry asked her.

”Yes,” she said, but Ron sensed there was more to this. Four hours really was a lot of time.

”Is Snape coming?” he asked Hermione.

”I think so,” she responded. Then she just came out with it.

”I’ve scheduled four hours of free time, but I’m only going to spend two hours with you. Actually, if you really look at it, it really isn’t free time. It’s—it’s kind of study time.”

Ron frowned at her.

”So, how are you going to spend the other two hours?” Ron asked her.

”ImgoingflyingwithSeverus,” she mumbled.

”What?” Ron demanded. Harry looked at him, frowning slightly.

”I’m going to go flying with Severus in his gryffin form. He had a magical saddle made that will hold me in place so I won’t fall. It’s supposed to arrive today. I’ll be documenting the flight,” she said.

”Cool!” Harry said, wondering if he could get a ride, too, after the novelty wore off.

”That’s not cool,” Ron said. “It’s dangerous. He hasn’t even been flying a full week, Hermione. You might not fall out of the saddle but you could still crash with him.”

”Ron, he flies fine. His gryffin instincts take over. He’s safe as a broom. Safer really since he can tell when trouble’s coming.”

”Wow, you think he’d let us watch at least?” Harry asked. “I want to see his form.”

”I’ll ask him tomorrow,” she said. “I’m sure he won’t mind.”

”No, why would he mind showing off?” Ron said bitterly. “I’m going back to Gryffindor tower. I need to practice some more.”

And Ron walked off bad-temperedly.

”What’s wrong with Ron?” Hermione asked Harry, although she had a pretty good idea.

”He’s jealous of Snape’s Animagus form, I think. Or maybe you,” Harry replied.

”Me? Why would he be jealous of me when he ended our relationship? Do you think he’s having second thoughts?”

Hermione hoped not. She was enjoying being able to do as she liked study-wise. If Ron asked her back out, she’d have to turn him down. She didn’t want to hurt him that way.

Harry shook his head.

”No, not second thoughts. It’s just—just that he sees how well you and Snape get along and is having a hard time with it. It’s like you are willing to spend more time with Snape than you were with him—“

“But it’s constructive time, Harry. I get something out of it that will help me make the marks I want. It isn’t socializing, not really. We work hard, believe me. I’m still getting all my work done and extra. I’ve also got a great presentation for my Transfiguration NEWTS and access to Severus’ library. I already have four more outlines for presentations in my other subjects. And—and I don’t have to feel guilty about how much time I devote to studying now. It’s like a weight’s been lifted off of me. Working with Severus is just good for me all around.”

”I know, Hermione. But, it’s still hard for Ron to accept. He really had big hopes for the both of you. That’s not something that just goes away. He also cares about you, too. Snape’s like the new guy in town, a new guy that you spend time with every day, more time than you did with Ron. It doesn’t help that Snape is a cool Animagus, either. Ron’s actually trying to find his own form. That’s what he’s going to do now.”

”Ron’s trying to find his form? That can take years,” Hermione said.

”He’s hoping it goes a bit faster,” Harry replied, not wanting to tell Hermione about the book he’d purchased. It was funny to him, but for some reason he didn’t want to see Hermione laugh about it.

It would be kind of cruel.

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”Bloody Snape,” Ron hissed in his room as he paced back and forth.

”I’m going flying with Snape and documenting EVERYTHING,” he said in a mimicking nasal voice, meant to sound like Hermione.

He kicked over the wooden chair in the corner.

”A magic saddle. Why doesn’t he join the fucking circus and give out rides there, the show-off? So what if he’s a gryffin, the bastard? It’s not fair. It’s just not fair. He just turns young, walks into our lives and takes Hermione. Just—takes her away with his bloody books and private quarters and big brain and Animagus form and—gah! I can’t stand him! I’ve got to find my form if it—“

Suddenly, Ron felt dizzy as if the room were bending around him, and there was a loosening inside him that was sickening, as if he was falling fast through space. He began to shudder, his eyes rolling up. He was scared to death! What was happening to him?

Everything went black.

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Ron awakened on the floor, feeling strange. He stood up and his legs didn’t seem to work right and he felt off-center. Had he had some kind of seizure? He probably needed to go see Poppy. He walked over to the mirror with a rather odd gait to look at himself.

He screamed at what looked back at him, only it came out more like a screech and a whoop combined.

Suddenly, Ron was looking at himself again. He felt himself all over to make sure everything was the way it should be. He looked back at the mirror, slightly horrified. He never expected anything like that.

“Oh Merlin,” he said, dropping on his bed, and rubbing his face. It itched a little. Probably from the hair that had been there. He’d found his animal form. It hadn’t taken seven days. Only four and a bit of rage at Snape.

Yes, he’d found his Animagus form, but he just wasn’t sure he’d ever share it.

He sat there, wondering what the hell kind of connection he could have with such an animal? He decided to go down to the library and look it up. There had to be something.

Ron walked through the halls of the castle in somewhat of a dazed state. Well, his theory about intent seemed to be right. It hadn’t taken him years, just focus and a bit of angry release. By cursing all things Snape, he’d hit the primal level that released the magic of the Animagi.

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Ron stared at the book open in front of him, reading. Well, the beast was considered very intelligent for its species and the largest that occupied its particular environment. It used tools, and had good problem solving skills. Well, that wasn’t so bad as far as animals went. It was very strong too, so that was a plus. Maybe that was the connection, the problem-solving. Ron was a good strategist after all.

His blue eyes drifted downward and he found another small definition under the animal’s name, but it didn’t refer to the animal.

It referred to a chess move of the same name that was used by masters. Ron’s best game was his chess game. As he read the entry about the Sokolsky Opening, he knew in his gut this was the form he was meant to have.

Another name for the famous “Sokolsky Opening,” was “the Orangutan.”

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A/N: lolol! Thanks for reading.