A Looping of the Scales ~ COMPLETED

Chapter 31 ~ An Interesting Excursion

Her hair streaming, Hermione smiled as Snape glided through the skies with her, turning so they were heading for the green -grey mountains in the distance. The sun sparkled off the water below them and the sea birds cried and wheeled around them like a winged guard, attracted by Snape’s form. Hermione had to wonder at this, because Snape was a raptor, and all prey birds avoided raptors. Maybe they somehow knew they were safe.

They had been flying for about an hour, passing through the misty cloudbanks. Hermione had to cast a warming charm on herself when they went higher. Snape felt her shivering and lowered their altitude. He didn’t do any fancy maneuvers or swoop down close to the water. He wanted to impress Hermione, but felt she was impressed enough for a first flight. He did go close to the mountains and Hermione appreciated their majestic beauty.

She wasn’t doing much documentation, that was for certain, but felt very safe with Severus. He had human intelligence after all, so she didn’t have to worry about controlling him.

”I didn’t think I’d enjoy this so much!” Hermione called out over the wind.

Snape heard her and squawked.

”I can see why you were so elated,” she said as they flew upward, passing a group of caves in the mountainside. Suddenly, the sea birds all streaked away.

“What? Why are they leaving?” Hermione said, looking perplexed. They flew away so quickly it was like the birdie Devil was after them.

Suddenly, Snape scented something sulfurous and wheeled around sharply, Hermione wrenching in the seat as he, too, streaked away. Even though she couldn’t fall, Hermione leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his lower neck, hanging on.

Snape squawked desperately, and Hermione had no idea why until she heard a roar and looked back.

They were being pursued by—by a dragon!

”Fly faster!” she screamed as the winged beast flapped after them, roaring. Luckily, it was a young dragon, but it still was fast and hungry. Usually it didn’t bother hunting birds, because it took too much work to catch and fill up on them. But a gryffin would make a nice meal.

Snape’s animal instincts took over and he dived just as the dragon flamed, missing them. But the beast twisted mid-air and followed them down. Snape changed direction and desperately flew toward the mountain face, hoping to turn off and make the dragon hit the stone, but the young dragon realized the ruse and turned off, following Snape’s curve.

The gryffin was doing a fair job of avoidance, but the dragon’s flame was building again and he couldn’t out fly it. Hermione realized it and knew she had to do something and pulled out her wand.

“Severus, you’ve got to fly toward it, before its flame builds up. I’ll hex it!” she cried.

Severus squawked, but instead of turning and flying straight at the dragon, he began streaking toward the ground in a dive. The dragon followed.

Hermione screamed as the earth zoomed up to meet them.

”What are you doing! We’re going to crash!” she cried, beating Snape around the neck with her fists and pulling on his feathers.

Then he looked back and shrieked viciously at Hermione, shocking her before looking at the dragon pointedly. He wanted her to do something! The ground was coming up fast.

Hermione twisted around in the saddle and took a steadying breath as Snape shrieked at her again. They were going to hit the ground if she didn’t hurry. The dragon’s sides were swelling as it prepared to flame again. It would be sure to hit them since it was right behind them.

Hermione shouted a hex, flicking and swishing her wand at the dragon, which let out a roar and misguided flame, then began writhing. Snape swooped upward, barely pulling out of the dive in time, but the dragon continued to fall, unable to see because Hermione had hit it with the Conjunctivitis Curse. The beast crashed into the ground and lay still as they flapped away

Her heart pounding, Hermione gulped down air as if she hadn’t taken a breath in hours. Snape however was flying rather quickly back toward the school. Next time, he’d make sure to take a look at a map before just taking flight. He’d inadvertently flew into dragon territory and it could have cost them their lives. He was hurrying because usually where there was one dragon, there were others. He knew he reached safe airspace when the seabirds rejoined them.

Hermione had been frightened but felt strangely exhilarated. She hadn’t been in any real danger since the final battle, and to be honest, she had missed the rush. Not that she’d like to be chased by a hungry dragon every day, but it had been very exciting. And, she had saved them.

”Well, that was interesting,” she said to the gryffin, which made an angry noise in response. He was mad because she started beating him up mid-dive instead of hexing the dragon. How did she ever survive a war?

Soon Hogwarts castle was in view and Snape made a beeline for it. A smattering of students was waiting, but not nearly as many as before. Ron, Harry and Ginny were gone. Snape landed and let Hermione off before transforming back to human form. His face was pinched as he eyed her angrily.

“You were supposed to attack the dragon, not me,” he hissed at her.

The students all listened, shocked. They’d run into a dragon? And survived? Wow.

Hermione put her hands on her hips.

”Well, I didn’t know what you were doing! I told you to fly at the dragon, not take us into a death dive!” she shot back at him.

“Hermione, I was not about to fly straight into a dragon’s jaws. It was safer for you to shoot at it behind us rather than in front of us. We’d be barbecued by now if I had followed your advice. Gryffindors. They always want to run right into the problem. In this case, it would have been disastrous. “

”Well, this Gryffindor saved your tail feathers,” Hermione hissed.

”I don’t have tail feathers,” Snape retorted.

”Your hindquarters then. I don’t see what you’re so upset about. We got away, didn’t we?”

”Barely. But it showed me one thing. It’s very likely I’ll beat your Charms NEWTS. You get flustered under fire and your reaction time is abysmal.”

Hermione turned quite red as everyone around them made an “ooh” noise. Hermione whirled on them.

”Do you mind?” she snarled. “We’re having a private conversation here.”

She whirled back on Snape.

”I’ll have you know I’ve cast plenty of defensive spells during the days leading up to the final battle. As you can see I’m still here,” she declared. “I can perform under fire just fine.”

”We were almost in the fire,” Snape responded. “You might have been quick on the draw then, but it’s obvious you’ve become rusty.”

”Rusty?”

”Yes, rusty.”

Hermione fumed.

”Remember when I told you that friends sometimes hex each other?” Hermione said in a low voice.

Snape immediately went on point, his eyes narrowing and he pulled out his wand.

”Yes, I do,” he intoned, his eyes hard.

”Well, they also practice hexes on each other, to hone their skills. Are you up for it?”

Snape relaxed a bit. She wasn’t going to attack him. He put his wand away.

”So, you want to ‘practice,’ do you? Fine. We’ll work it into our study time next week,” he said evenly. He knew Hermione probably just wanted to knock him on his bum a few times because he’d called her on her hexing skills. Fine. It had been a while since he’d hexed a Gryffindor. If she wanted to have at him, he’d oblige her. That fact that Hermione was a witch didn’t faze him at all, because magical ability was an equalizer. A witch could hex as well as a wizard.

”Fine,” she shot back at him.

They stared at each other for a moment, then Snape said, “I’m going to my quarters and have a Firewhiskey. Tell Potter and the Weasleys I’ll see them next weekend. I’ve had enough flying for one day.”

With that, the wizard spun on his heel and headed for the castle, Hermione and the other students watching him go. The group turned to face Hermione.

”Are you really going to duel Snape, Hermione?” a witch asked her.

”We’re not going to duel—we’re going to practice Charms. Now, if you’ll all excuse me,” she said, walking through them and heading for the Quidditch pitch.

”Sounds like dueling to me,” a wizard said, watching Hermione stalk away.

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”You were chased by a dragon? What kind?” Harry asked Hermione as he, Ron and Ginny gathered around her with wide eyes.

”I don’t know. I didn’t really study it for details, considering it was trying to eat us.”

”So much for documenting everything,” Ron said with a smirk.

”Shut up, Ron,” Hermione snapped at him. “But Severus went into a dive and I hit it with the Conjunctivitis Curse. It crashed into the ground and was killed.”

”So, where’s Severus?” Harry asked.

”He had a hissy fit and slithered back to the dungeons,” Hermione said angrily. Both of Ron’s eyebrows rose. Was there trouble in Study Heaven?

”A hissy fit? Hard to imagine him doing that,” Harry said.

”Well, he did. He was angry because I didn’t immediately hex the dragon. I—I kind of started hitting him when he went into the dive, trying to make him turn off,” Hermione admitted. “I didn’t know what he was doing. I thought he was going to get us killed. He says I nearly got us killed. That my reactions are too slow. Well, he’ll find out how slow I am—”


“What? What do you mean, Hermione? You aren’t going to duel him are you?” Ginny asked her.

”No, of course not. We’re just going to practice a bit. Hone our defensive and offensive skills for the Charms NEWTS,” she said.

”Duel,” Ron, Ginny and Harry said together.

”It is not!” Hermione said.

”Well, if it isn’t, maybe we can join in,” Ron said with narrowed eyes. “It’s been a while and I know I could use a good workout—or target practice.”

Hermione looked a bit stricken.

”Join in?” she repeated.

Now Harry looked excited.

”Yeah. I’d like to see what Snape could do at our age. It would be good practice and the more people involved, the better the training up, don’t you think, Hermione? There’d be more variation.”

”I want to duel,” Ginny piped in.

”It’s not dueling!” Hermione exclaimed. “But, I don’t know. Severus is very private about his studies.”

She really didn’t want them to join in. She wanted it to be just her and Severus.

”Just ask him, Hermione,” Ron said, scowling.

”No. I know he wouldn’t be interested.”

”I’ll ask him,” Harry said, “and right now.”

Harry turned, grabbed his broom and started walking determinedly toward the castle.

”No! Harry! Wait!” Hermione called after him.

”I’ll let you know what he says,” Harry called back before he hopped on his Firebolt and zoomed away.

”Oh—damn,” Hermione cursed under her breath.

She hoped Severus said no.

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Harry knocked on the Potions office door. After a moment, it opened and Snape looked out at him, surprised.

”Potter,” he said in greeting.

”Hi,” Harry replied. He decided to just jump right in.

”I heard that you and Hermione are going to be practicing Charms and hexes, and wanted to know if me, Ron and Ginny could join in. We all need to work on our spell work, and it’s been a little while since the final battle—and---“

”I have no problem with you or the Weasleys joining us. The more—the merrier,” Snape purred at him. “We can meet in the Room of Requirement—say—Tuesday evening after supper?”

Harry gave him a broad smile.

”Thanks, Severus. This is going to be great,” he gushed.

”I’m sure it is, Potter. Great fun indeed. Now, good day.”

Snape closed the office door and an elated Harry hurried up the dungeon corridor to give Hermione, Ron and Ginny the good news.

Too bad it would only be good news to Ron and Ginny.

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A/N: Thanks for reading.