The Boy in the Attic

Chapter 4:
Hermione had decided early on that wizards had horrible methods of travel. Flying terrified her, portkeys made her nauseous, and flooing was dirty and bumped her around quite a bit. Apparition was the most tolerable as far as she was concerned, but as Snape disapparated them away from Diagon Alley Hermione learned something new: when she was already wound tight from being attacked, the squeeze of apparition and the feel of her atoms zipping through time and space was not at all pleasant. So, when she felt solid ground reappear under her feet it took everything she had not to vomit all over Snape’s shoes.

Still, she couldn’t keep a rather undignified retching noise from escaping the back of her throat and she dearly hoped that he wouldn’t push her away because of it; any sudden movements and she would be making a mess. He didn’t move, though she could feel him tensing up under her hands, and so she took a few moments to collect herself. A minute later she released her grip on his robes and took a step back. “Thank you,” she said as she lifted her head to look at him.

She blinked as she looked up, taking in her surroundings. The room was dark and dirty; there wasn’t much light coming through the windows, and there was a film of dirt over the floor. The only pieces of furniture in the room were two threadbare armchairs sitting in front of the fireplace, and a small end table positioned between them, adding even more to the dingy appearance of the room. What really drew her attention, however, were the walls. Every wall was coved in bookshelves, and every shelf was full of books, some old some new. Hermione’s hands itched to look through them, and she had to clench her fists tightly at her sides to keep herself from doing just that. “Oh my,” she whispered.

Snape grumbled something under his breath and stalked over to a bookcase without looking at her. The case swung open, revealing a doorway through which he disappeared, only to return a moment later with a small jar in his hand. “Here,” he muttered and handed the jar to her, “for that bruise.”

“Bruise?” Hermione questioned, only then becoming aware of the soreness radiating from her left cheek. “Oh, yes, thank you.” She uncapped the jar, scooped some of the dittany up on her fingers and carefully applied it to where she thought the bruise was. It was difficult without a mirror but if she missed a few spots she could always fix it when she got home. Finished, she handed the jar back to him and smiled apologetically, “I’m sorry to have involved you in that today, sir.”

Snape snorted, “I would have thought all that war hero worship would have died down by now. It’s been almost four years, but it seems to have taken a rather obsessive turn.” He turned away from her to place the jar of dittany on a side table, before looking back at her with one eyebrow raised in contempt.

Hermione looked at him confused, hero worship? He was obviously being serious judging from the sour look on his face, but how could he think that when… then it hit her, “You didn’t read the paper yesterday did you Professor?”

“Miss Granger I don’t see how that has anything to do with this,” Snape growled at her.

“It has everything to do with it! Those people weren’t happy to see me; in fact I think that quite a few of them would have liked to kill me.”

“Granger, you’re not that important, I doubt anyone would want to waste their time killing you.”

“Read the paper.” Hermione snarled back, affronted by his compassionless comment. “I wouldn’t have even been in Diagon Alley if I didn’t have to buy an arthritis potion for… Oh my god, the potion! I didn’t get it; oh what am I going to do?”

Unaffected by her sudden distress, Snape simply rolled his eyes. “Even with your dismal efforts in my class Granger, I would think you would be able to produce a simple arthritis potion.”

“Dismal efforts?” Hermione exclaimed, “You know very well I had excellent grades in your class and I usually do brew my own, thank you very much. I just ran out and didn’t have time to brew anymore.”

“Careless as usual,” Snape replied, a spiteful glint in his eyes, “You haven’t changed a bit. The annoying, childish Gryffindor that caused me so many headaches over the years is still very much present.”

That did it; with all the stress from the day before, the attack and the man in front of her, the thin strands holding her temper in check, snapped. Her anger forming a red haze at the corners of her vision, Hermione stalked over to where Snape was standing and jabbed her finger into his chest. “I have changed, it’s you who hasn’t! You are clinging so tightly to your bitterness and anger, that you can’t see past that huge beak you call a nose!”

Snape growled, grabbed her by the arms and shook her roughly. “How dare you, you little twit! In case you’ve forgotten, I saved your bloody arse a few minutes ago.”

“No, I haven’t forgotten,” Hermione sneered back, “and I did thank you. Just don’t expect any praise or respect from me, sir; I only give as good as I get.” She jerked her arms away from his grip, quelling the urge to slap him as she backed away. “Now let me out of this damn place. I’d much prefer it if I no longer had to be in your presence… and I have an arthritis potion I need to buy.”

“You’d have to venture back into Diagon Alley to get the potion, and I can’t imagine that you would be welcome there.” He said, standing across from her with his arms crossed. His lips were pressed so tightly together that they almost disappeared against his pale skin and his black eyes were glaring daggers at her.

“I think I’ll take my chances.” Hermione replied. She mimicked his stance: arms crossed, back stiff, feet a shoulder’s width apart in an attempt to show him that she was serious, but she knew that she couldn’t match the intensity of his glare.

Snape looked her up and down, a smirk forming on his thin lips. “Always trying to play with the big boys, aren’t we Granger?”

Hermione opened her mouth to retort but he turned and exited the room before she had a chance to say anything. “Where are you going?” She called after him. Walking up to the doorway, the one previously hidden by the bookshelf, she peered into the dark hallway beyond but did not go any further. “Professor?”

“I’m no longer your Professor, and I haven’t been for years.” Snape said a moment later as he came walking out of the dark hallway. He reached out quickly, grabbed Hermione’s arm, and pressed something into her hand. “I may not like you Granger, but even I couldn’t, in good conscience, send you back to those wolves.”

Hermione looked down at the vial in her hand, read the label, and looked back up at Snape in amazement. “Sir, I…”

“Granger for once in your life shut up, and get out of my house.”

His tone offered no room for argument and before Hermione knew quite what she was doing, she found herself standing in her own living room, dust from the floo making a mess all over her floor. She stood there for a moment before remembering the vial in her hand. The meeting with Snape was momentarily pushed to the back of her mind as she hurried up the stairs to the attic.

“Norton,” she called out as she reached the top of the stairs.

The boy turned to look at her, a big grin on his face. “Hermy, you back! I was watching the T.V. Moppy put ice on my hands ‘cause they hurt, but now they just cold. You was gone a long time. I watched cartoons.” He rambled on lifting his hands, wrapped in towels and bags of ice so she could see.

Hermione sat next to him on his bed with a smile. “Oh, lets get those bags off of you’re hands. I brought you’re medicine, so they won’t hurt anymore.” Hermione reached over and untied the ice bags from his hands, pressing his cold fingers against her cheeks. “Brrr.”

Norton giggled, “Uh huh, brrr.” He wiggled his torso around in an odd little dance for a moment, before tilting his head back and opening his mouth wide. “Ahh!” Hermione laughed, tickled his belly, uncorked the little vial in her hands, and tipped the contents into Norton’s open mouth.

The effect was almost instantaneous and more than Hermione could have ever hoped for. She watched in amazement as the swelling in Norton’s knuckles receded to almost nothing as the twisted bones moved to a slightly more natural position. “My potions never did that,” she murmured to herself.

“Wow Hermy look!” Norton exclaimed, as he held up his hands in front of his face. “I can play blocks real good now!”

Hermione watched as the boy scrambled awkwardly off of the bed and headed straight toward the pile of blocks in the centre of the room. She shook her head in wonder. “I’ll never understand that man,” she muttered looking at the small vial Snape had given her, “but I need to get this recipe.”

~~~
Severus Snape sat in one of his threadbare armchairs before the fire, a copy of the Daily Prophet from the day before open in his lap. It was open to page six and Rita Skeeter was winking at him from her photo beneath the headline. “It seems,” he said aloud to the otherwise empty room, “that I have a letter to write.”


AN: UPDATE whoo! Sorry about the long wait, RL has dealt me a rather nasty hand lately. Anyway, I will hopefully be updating more quickly in the coming weeks. Hope you enjoyed the interactions between the ever so dashing Severus Snape and the lovely Hermione Granger, there will be plenty more to come, and I promise they will be more civil towards each other later.

Also, because I know my descriptions of Norton have been vague at best, here’s a little recap of everything I have let slip thus far (just to put it all together)
-He is small in stature- he acts younger than he is (19)- his hair is thin and falling out- he shies away form showing the right side of his face- his hands are misshapen- he has arthritis- something about his appearance shocked Ron enough to cause him to think that Norton was not human/a test subject- he is absolutely adorable.

Furthermore: I have not yet had a chance to see if a beta was offered, so if you still are interested please shoot me an email at cassidyml@yahoo.com

Thanks to my lovely reviewers:
ilovehaggis, Sampdoria, Sampdoria, Narcissas Sister, Foofie, Lady Disdain, Heidi191976, catysmom, Megan, sinbad, neelix

Love ya!