Chasing Destiny

Friday came quicker than Hermione had been expecting and today was her last double potions before the holidays. If she could just make it through the afternoon then she could start to enjoy the holidays.



Snape was in an unusually cheerful mood – for him – and he had only taken 60 points from Gryffindor so the day really was looking to end on a good note when Neville went to put 25 stalks of ginger root in his cauldron instead of 2.5 stalks. Hermione noticed of course and stopped him. She stood over his potion and attempted to help him when she noticed a looming black shadow over her shoulder.



“And what do you think you are doing Miss Granger?” Asked Snape.



“Well I was just helping Neville here. You see he was about to…”



“I DON’T CARE WHAT HE WAS ABOUT TO DO MISS GRANGER! MY CLASSROOM 7.00pm SHARP TONIGHT. Is that clear?”



“Yes Professor.” She yelped.



“Good and now I’m sure you will be more than willing to show Mr. Longbottom what needs to be done wont you?” He sneered.



“Yes sir.” She said while throwing an apologetic glance at Ginny who was waiting for Hermione outside the classroom to talk about the dress Hermione was going to transfigure for her.



Hermione waited for the class to clear out before approaching Snape’s desk.



He looked up. “What do you want Miss Granger? I am extremely busy and don’t have time for you and your know it all ideas.”



“Well I just wanted to…”



“To what?” He interrupted.



“To… to tell you that Draco Malfoy, well… he…”



“Miss Granger, what did Malfoy do?” There was a hint of concern in his voice that he managed to hide very well.



“It doesn’t matter.” She sighed as she turned to leave. In his current state of mind, Professor Snape was more likely to congratulate Draco on his threatening behaviour. The man she loved unconditionally grabbed her arm and stopped her from leaving.



“Hermione please. What's happened?” The look of concern was no longer hidden as Severus let his guard down.



“Don’t. I shouldn’t have come to you its just that… well he scares me and I don’t know what he would have done if Sirius hadn’t been there.”



“Black? What could he do?” Snape sneered.



“Well he scared Draco off for one, and then he escorted me to class. He’s quite charming when he wants to be.” She smiled.



“Well we all know what he wants.” The jealous man replied.



“Well at least he wouldn’t lie to me.” Hermione snapped back.



That evening at dinner, with Ginny babbling about her dress to Ron and Harry and Snape giving Sirius dirty looks across the dinner table, no-one noticed the bushy haired Gryffindor pushing yet another plate of food away and hurrying to the out of order girls bathroom.



At 7.04pm, Hermione knocked on the classroom door nervously. She was a few minutes late and wondered if he had noticed.



“Come.” Came the deep voice from inside.



She opened the door.



“Professor, I’m here for my detention.” She had made arrangements with Ginny for first thing in the morning. After all, it was three whole days before the Yule ball.



“Yes Miss Granger I know. I was the one who issued it. You will help me research the potion used on these plants presumably to kill them. Headmaster Dumbledore insists that I find out.”



“Yes sir. Where do I start?”



“Well you shall grind them and I shall experiment on the remains. When the first few ingredients are established, it will be easier to calculate what happened.”



“Where were the plants?” She asked as she sat down and rolled up her sleeves.



“They were on the west side of the grounds underneath the windows for the infirmary and the spare hall used for dormitories for long term patients. Why?” He passed her a section of leaf to grind and a pestle and mortar.



“Well I was wondering if it was an accident. If someone had thrown something from a window or if they had spilled it on their way somewhere.” Hermione added some base powder to form a paste that they could liquefy.



“That is a possibility. I have doubts as to why someone would want to purposely destroy flowers. It seems pointless. Frivolous really and I don’t see why we should spend our time investigating such a pointless act. What will they do when they know what killed the plants? Try to find a cure?” He scoffed. Hermione added water from the filter into the cauldron and set her mixture onto the flame.



As it bubbled, she walked over to Snape and investigated what he was doing. He had separated the veins from the leaves and was adding a blue powder to them. The second one fizzed and he frowned.



“What is it?” She whispered.



“This section seems to the use of an ingredient used in birth control and abortant potions. It incapacitates the eggs produced by a woman during ovulation, fertalised or not. We won’t know what other ingredients were used until your part is finished.”



“What if some student was going to have an abortion but decided against it? What if she’s out there pregnant as we speak?” She gasped.



“Oh do calm down Miss Granger. It is most probably some form of contraceptive and I dare say, none of your business.” Snape growled as he reached over and stirred her cauldron. “Nearly done now. I suppose you have helped enough he said looking at the time. You go back to your dorm.”



She nodded and left the room. On her way back to the head’s quarters, Hermione met a familiar black dog wondering the corridors. In a second, Sirius Black was standing beside her.



“Hermione, always sneaking up from the dungeons. Anyone would think that you had a death wish or something with all those Slytherins being so close by.”



She smiled. “And Sirius, always the one to come to my rescue. Anyone would think you had another agenda.”



“As you know perfectly well, I think of you as a friend and nothing more Hermione and that is why I would like to ask you to accompany me to the Yule ball. As a friend.” Sirius looked genuine and wasn’t joking for once. “You could be my date but not on a date!” He winked.



At that moment, Snape, who was on his way to Madame Pomfrey, approached the scene.



“I’d love to be your date to the Yule ball Sirius.” Hermione laughed and hugged him. She knew that he wouldn’t pressure her for anything more than a few dances and he would make sure she got back to her quarters safely.



Severus’s heart fell. She was over him. She was dating that mongrel Black and hadn’t given him a second thought. He hid around the corner until they were out of sight and carried on his way.



Poppy Pomfrey was sitting at her desk attending to the notes she had made during the day.



George Wallow – broken arm, third year, Quidditch practice. – Ravenclaw.



Simple bone fixing spell and a nights bed rest.



Samantha Mc Badderich – a small tail, first year, transfiguration misshap. – Gryffindor.



Shrinking potion rubbed on the area and a check up tomorrow.



Elle Swanson – rash on cheek, fourth year, reaction to make-up. – Slytherin.



Applied a soothing balm. To be added daily for a week.



Charles Danter – several…



Suddenly, Professor Snape came bursting through the doors and entered the infirmary.



“Madam Pomfrey, I am sorry to disturb you but I need some information that you may be reluctant to give me.”



“Good evening Severus and to what do I owe that overly dramatic entrance?” She asked while packing away her notes.



“I need to know the names of all the students you have administered emergency contraceptus potion to in the last six months.”



“Why would you need that?” She asked suspiciously. “Was there something wrong with the batch? Will it not work?”



“No, no. The batch was fine. I need to know because one of them didn’t use it. They threw it in the flower bed outside and I know it was one administered by you as I recognised it. I made it.” He waited patiently.



“Ok, well it’ll take me a few weeks to go through every day for the last six month’s files and what with the ongoing injuries we seem to have around here, I’m surprised I get anything done. I’ll give it to you as soon as I can.” With a swish of black, he was gone.



The next morning, Hermione awoke with a sigh. She looked down at the package she had fallen asleep holding. It was Severus’s Christmas present. She had got it on her last trip home from muggle London. She wished they could go back to then and still be happy. She was in such a mess. She spent the days trying to forget about him and the nights remembering his smell, his touch and dreaming of better times. At least she had the ball to look forward to.



At breakfast, she hardly ate anything as she was once again feeling queasy. This had been happening a lot since she broke up with him. The loss of appetite and the sudden urge to vomit when she thought about what he had done.



“Mione, please eat something. You’ve hardly eaten anything since the accident and we’re worried about you.” Ron said as she pushed her plate of nibbled toast away and stood to leave.



“Yeah and moaning Mertle told me that you keep being sick in her sinks too.” Harry added a little grossed out.



“Ugh, I think your right you know. I must be coming down with something. I feel a little…” and with that, the world went black.



Snape had seen her sway and caught her before the others even realised what she was saying. He took her straight to Madam Pomfrey with her friends in tow. When she began to regain consciousness, she realised that she was lying on a bed in the hospital wing. Poppy fretted about her taking scans and handed her a pepper up potion. She could hear her friends from behind the curtain.



“What the bloody hell happened?” Asked Ron. “She was standing there and then the next thing I knew, he was carrying her to the hospital.” He motioned to Snape who was sitting over the other side of the beds waiting to see what was wrong.



Hermione listened carefully to hear what had happened and who had bought her to Madam Pomfrey.



“I know. I didn’t even see her fall.” Harry added.



“That, boys is because you were too busy stuffing your faces to notice your friend fainting.” Came a smooth voice from behind them.



Hermione recognised the voice immediately and her heart skipped a beat as she realised that he must have been watching her to notice her swaying.



“Tut, tut boys. Stop all of this arguing now your friend needs you. She’s awake and confused. Fill her in on what happened while I have a word with professor Snape here.” Madam Pomfrey ushered them towards the curtain.



The boys walked behind the it and jumped onto the bed alongside their friend.



“Professor, I have the list you wanted but I’m afraid we may have found the culprit and she’s sitting in that bed.” She motioned to Hermione’s current abode.



“Miss Granger? It can’t be. She was as anxious to find out what the potion on the flowers was as… well not me, but she was anxious… perhaps a little too anxious and she did want to help me find out what it was… or cover her tracks.” He grimaced. “When did you give her the potion?”



“The morning after you and she came back from the last battle. The thing I don’t understand is, why would she want to keep her attacker’s baby. She didn’t even know who the father was.” Madam Pomfrey thought aloud.



“Or did she?” Snape tore off in the direction of the immobilised Gryffindor.







An – tut tut Sev, assuming again… silly wizard!