The Legend of Erised
The Legend of Erised
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The
Legend of Erised
Chapter
1
Albus
Dumbledore sighed deeply. He was the
Headmaster at one of the best wizarding schools in
all of
past. The war against Voldemort had been
terrible. Many lives, wizard and
However, now that Lord Voldemort was destroyed
for good, things had been quiet.
was bored. Everything was going so
smoothly that it was beginning to get stagnant.
Everyone was comfortable. That was
not always a good thing. Where was the
challenge? Where was the passion?
what he needed to bring back to Hogwarts: Challenge, Passion, Fun.
“And
I know just the thing, Fawkes.” The
phoenix looked at him questioningly.
He
chuckled to himself as he carefully devised his plan.
Hermione
Granger met up with her friends outside of the Great Hall.
“Hey,
Mione” Ron Weasley greeted
her cheerily. She barely refrained from rolling
her eyes at him. They were in their
nickname she hated. She had given up
correcting the boys in their 6th year.
“Hey
guys. Ready for
breakfast?” She asked looking
over at her other friend Harry Potter.
He smiled his famous lopsided smile and said, “Let’s go then”.
“Wait Neville
guys” Hermione hesitated. “Here comes Neville”.
p>
Longbottom ran up to them, slightly out of breath.
tracks.
“Ten
points from Gryffindor, Mr. Longbottom for running in the halls.”
Snape. He was the Potions Master and his
favorite pastime was picking on Gryffindors.
“Good
morning all” a cheery voice exclaimed.
“Ah Severus, having some early morning entertainment, I see.”
Snape
scowled at him. “Good morning
Headmaster.”
Dumbledore
seem unaffected by the Potion Master’s mood and patted Neville, who was the
closest to him, jovially on the shoulder.
“I trust you are all having a marvelous day!”
Snape,
obviously not having the self-control that Hermione had earlier, rolled his
eyes at the ecstatic professor. “Oh for
Merlin’s sake” he mumbled.
“Good,
Good” Dumbledore said cheerily, as his eyes twinkled merrily.
Professor
Snape’s eyes narrowed. He knew that
look. This cannot be good, he thought to
himself.
Shortly
after breakfast began, owls of all shapes and sizes ded ded the Great Hall
dropping letters, and packages to their recipients.
plate. Funny, he didn’t
see an owl drop it. Neville dreaded
getting mail. It was always from his
grandmother. And
it was always about something he had done wrong.
Might as well get it over with.
Arial\'>
Arial\'>Dear Neville,
just want you to know how proud I am of you.
You have worked very hard and I know your
parents would be proud of you, also.
Although I don’t say it often enough, I love
you.
Arial\'>
< sty style=\'font-family:Arial\'>Neville’s
eyes popped out. It was
actually signed by his grandmother.
She was definitely not the sentimental type.
handwriting. He knew he should be
worried about what was going on. '> All he
could think about, though, was that she was proud of him.
her expectations.
He
was going to keep this letter forever.
As
Neville stood up to leave for his first class, another student bumpedo hio him,
knocking his books out of his hands.
People were always running into him as if he was not there.
he thanked Harry and rushed out. He
Harry
shook his head as he watched Neville rush off.
Nothing had changed in the last seven years.
Voldemort. Thinking back on all he had
been through in his years at Hogwarts Harry realized this year was going to be
Something
on the floor caught Harry’s eye. It looked
like a letter. An old
letter at that. It must have been
Neville’s, he thought as he picked it up.
He opened it to be sure. As he
read the letter, his mouth fell open.
Arial\'>Dear Harry,
miss you very much. I
know you fought bravely against Voldemort and I am very proud of you.
both proud of you, also.
you very much.
Arial\'>
Arial\'>Your godfather,
Arial\'>Sirius Black
Arial\'>
Harry
could not believe his eyes. He had a
letter from his godfather. It had taken
him a very long time to get over Sirius’ sudden death.
to focus on the time they had together.
He
smiled. He felt wonderful.
class. Advanced
Transfigurations.
Ron
and Hermione looked at Harry when he skipped into class.
Harry
explained the letter to them. They both
looked skeptical but they didn’t want to burst Harry’s
happy little bubble. He told them he
would show it to them at lunch. He didn’t want to get
caught with it and get it taken away.
All the teachers had cracked down on note passing, and other student activities.
they still had to retain some sort of control.
Harry
was unable to show them the letter at lunch.
He could not find it. It was
strange but Harry wasn’t upset that he no longer had
the letter. He remembered every word it
said. Neville was also excited, telling
everyone about the letter he received today.
Hermione
looked at them quizzically. “There is
something strange here”.
“Please,
Mione” Ron begged, “You’ve got that look in your
eyes. There is nothing going on
here. So what if Harry and Neville both
got good news.”
“Not
just good news, but amazing news” she looked around at them all.
a “no”.
She dismissed them all with a shake of her long, curly, brown hair.
They
all ran to catch up with her. They joked
around and tried to get back on her good side.
None of them wanted Hermione mad at them.
They
all piled into the potions classroom and sat in their seats.
Hermione and Neville. It was amazing
that they had all made it to 7th year Advanced Potions.
Hermione who really knew her stuff.
It was more surprising for Harry, Ron, and Neville to have made it.
hard for them but because Professor Snape hated them all.
terrified of him. They had
thought that after the war things would get better.
Order, right along side Snape. The
professor seemed to make a point of treating them the same as he always had, if
not a little harsher.
Snape
wasn’t there yet.
They had gotten there a little early.
It was always better to be early than late to Snape’s class.
Ron
noticed a rolled up piece of parchment on the table.
the letter Harry lost. He decided
to check it out. He
Arial\'>Dear Mr. Ron Weasley,
Arial\'>We are pleased to inform you that
heard
your great talent and would be honored
have you join our team.
Arial\'>
t\'>
Quidditch Team
He was too young. They had
Krum, and other underage players.
Someone was playing a trick on him.
He threw the letter down just as Snape entered the classroom.
The
class settled into the routine of the potions class.
students brewed the potion of the day.
He
looked over at her as she worked diligently on her potion.
with her since the end of the war. She
had fought so hard, and brave. Just like
a Gryffindor he thought snidely.
had gotten to him. He didn’t
know how it had happened but for the last 6 months or so he couldn’t get her
out of his mind. After
as a student. She was definitely a
woman. And she
was the only thing that made postwar life at Hogwarts bearable.
He
watched as she slowly stirred the potion in front of her. Then
as she contemplated the next step, her fingers absently stroked the handle of
the spoon. Snape inwardly
groaned. Sometimes he thought she did
these things on purpose just to torture him.
But no.
She had no idea the effect she had on him.
against Voldemort and he had fooled many witches and wizards with greater skill
than she.
himself. Oh
shut up. He was not going to turn into some
sappy fool!
While
this war continued to rage inside him, he continued to stare at her (without
appearing to, of course). She took a
deep breath and he watched the rise and fall of chest.
class to make sure no one made any stupid mistakes but he found he had trouble
taking his eyes off her. This was 7th
year potions after all. They should know
what they are doing by now.
Hermione
reached down and smoothed the edge of her skirt.
rested on her leg. She rubbed her hand
slowly across the top of her thigh as if she were cold.
on him when he imagined her slowly parting her legs just so he could get a
better look….
This
was madness! He had to get control.
trying to keep his mind off her. He
noticed what looked like a letter next to her chair.
sanity.
He
strode purposely toward her. “Miss
Granger. What is this?”
“I
don’t know sir” she answered him. “It is
not mine.”
“Oh,
really” he said softly as he opened the letter.
The skepticism on his face was quickly replaced
by a look of pure astonishment.
Arial\'>Dear Severus,
long to touch you…
Arial\'>
He
only read the first few words before he had to stop.
control. He looked at the letter again
but this time only to read the signature on the bottom.
Arial\'>Hermione Granger
He
looked at her coldly.
“Really,
Professor, I’m telling you the truth. It
is not mine.” Hermione was alarmed at
the look in his eyes.
“Then
explain to me, Miss Granger, why it has your name on it?”
She
had no answer.