Rating:
PG-13
House:
Schnoogle
Characters:
Hermione Granger Severus Snape
Genres:
General Romance
Era:
Multiple Eras
Spoilers:
Philosopher's Stone Chamber of Secrets Prizoner of Azkaban Goblet of Fire
Stats:
Published: 10/03/2003
Updated: 10/17/2003
Words: 94,798
Chapters: 20
Hits: 77,297

Ordinary People

Hayseed

Story Summary:
How do ordinary people cope with their extraordinary circumstances? A SS/HG romance that strives for realism.

Chapter 04

Posted:
10/03/2003
Hits:
3,876


Broken heroes are rarely useful---

Hermione's first thought was that she felt deliciously warm. Her second was that she was suspiciously without pain. "Am I dead?" she asked quietly, not opening her eyes.

"Ah, Miss Granger," a voice replied. "You're awake. I can assure you, my dear, that you are still amongst the living."

And Hermione did open her eyes at that. Albus Dumbledore looked gravely down at her. "What happened?" she asked. "I remember the Portkey and the floor and then..."

"Professor McGonagall found you three," Dumbledore told her. "In the Great Hall. Any later and you probably would have died. She, of course, brought Madam Pomfrey immediately and between them, they saved your life."

"Harry?" Hermione inquired fearfully. "Professor Snape?"

"Both alive," Dumbledore replied with a small smile. "Although neither of them have woken up yet. Miss Granger, I am afraid that I have a great number of questions for you."

She sat up a bit and pushed her hair out of her eyes. Staring down at her lap, Hermione wondered what the Headmaster must be thinking. "Yes," she said carefully. "I suppose that you should."

"Imagine my surprise," he said, "to be called away from the rather abandoned looking Riddle manor to be told that the child I was searching for had been returned in a rather bad state with two individuals who had been bedridden the evening before, according to Poppy."

Hermione coughed a bit. "Professor Snape remembered another place that Harry might have been taken. But don't blame him, sir, I made him take me along. He was going to go alone!" she said quickly.

"And it never occurred to you, Miss Granger, to tell another professor?" Dumbledore asked gently.

"There was no time," Hermione very nearly wailed. "And when we got there, Voldemort was torturing Harry so badly! We had to do something."

Dumbledore's face hardened even further. "What did you do, Miss Granger?"

She shrugged. "I created a diversion, Professor Snape slipped under the wards with a Concealment Charm, and we brought Harry back, sir."

"Miss Granger, there is a small matter of a knife that was discovered on your person. I would please like you to explain that. In addition to the fact that Severus was hit with a very bad Burning Charm that very nearly killed him."

Hermione sighed. "Well, I had to let the Death Eaters catch me, didn't I? If they weren't to notice Professor Snape. And Voldemort handed me over to Lestrange, so I--"

Her stammering explanation was cut off as a loud groan came from the bed to her right. "Urgh," someone said.

"Ah, Severus," Dumbledore said pleasantly, turning away from Hermione. "Good to see you awake."

"I feel like I've recently been roasted," Snape mumbled.

"You very nearly were, my boy," Dumbledore replied. "Someone hit you with a powerful curse."

"Damned Avery," Snape said in a hoarse voice. "I wish Potter had more than Stunned the bastard."

"Potter?" Dumbledore asked with raised eyebrows. "This is a complicated story, indeed."

"Is Potter all right?" Snape continued in what would have been a bored voice if it hadn't been so weak. "I'd hate to think we went to all that trouble..."

"Mr. Potter is stable," Dumbledore told him. "Although he hasn't woken up yet. But that's not too surprising--he took a series of hard blows. Although Poppy said that his was the least exotic case. Cruciatus, mostly. But it took her a while to figure you out, Severus. And she never did quite ascertain what happened to Miss Granger, here."

"They prefer Muggle torture methods, I think," Hermione said softly. "No spells. Just a good old-fashioned beating. And stabbing. And...other things, maybe. I'm glad I kicked that big bastard in the face. I hope I broke his nose. And I know I knocked Lestrange out when we crashed into that wall--otherwise I would have never gotten his knife away from him."

"So that's what you were doing," Snape said from his bed. "I wondered what you were holding when you came howling into the room like a banshee."

Hermione shrugged. "I was hoping maybe Voldemort had enough human left in him to be hurt by non-magical methods. It worked, I suppose."

Dumbledore's eyebrows nearly shot off his forehead. "Are you telling me, Miss Granger, that you attacked Voldemort with a knife?"

"I was particularly amused when she told him to go to hell," Snape said dryly, recovering some of his typical sneer. "And I admit, it was very startling when she came running into the room, half-undressed and dripping blood, and tackled him."

"Severus, Miss Granger," Dumbledore began, "this narrative would be much easier to follow if it were presented at all in a linear fashion."

Hermione had to bite back a giggle as she heard Professor Snape murmur something along the lines of, "Now you know what it feels like..."

"I believe, Miss Granger, that you were telling me about a diversion of some sort right before Severus decided to grace us with his cheerful presence." Dumbledore looked at her expectantly.

Hermione cleared her throat. "I just made a lot of noise outside of the house. All we needed was for them to open the door so that Professor Snape could slip through."

"My Concealment Charm allowed me to go inside and find the room where You-Know-Who was holding Potter," Snape said, picking up the tale. "I was intending to grab Potter and Disapparate with him."

"And I was just going to Disapparate out of there myself, once I was sure Professor Snape was in," Hermione said. "But there were too many Death Eaters. Four came at me. They caught me, tied me up, snapped my wand, and took me to Voldemort so he could decide what to do with me. I rather think we had a good little talk. I swore at him, he hexed me."

"Don't forget about your new pet name, little Gryffindor lioness," Snape inserted dryly.

Hermione shivered. "Please don't ever call me that again, Professor. Anyway, Headmaster, sir, Voldemort gave me to Lestrange to 'play with,' as he so eloquently put it, so that he could go back to working on Harry."

"I was in the shadows, still under my Charm, waiting for the right moment to lay hands on Potter and Miss Granger to escape," Snape continued. "But Lestrange took her from the room too quickly."

"He's stark raving mad, that one is." Hermione said sharply. "He pulled out a knife and just started slicing me up a bit at a time. I would almost prefer the Cruciatus."

"Lestrange was unstable even before he and his wife were sent to Azkaban. I shudder to think of what he is capable of now," Snape muttered.

"Three others came in. One of them I recognized from the hallway here when they were taking Harry. That big one."

"Nott," Snape supplied. "And Avery and Goyle, I suppose."

"I don't know," Hermione said with a shrug. "But they wanted to join in as well. And when that big one--when Nott started ripping..." She trailed off for a moment, face shuttered. "Anyway, I kicked him in the face. Lucky blow, really. And in all the confusion and struggle, I managed to get close enough to Lestrange's knife for him to accidentally cut my ropes. I don't know what the other two were doing, but I knocked Lestrange into a wall, knocked him unconscious. That's when Voldemort started yelling down the hall."

"My Charm wore off," Snape continued. "I was just standing in the middle of the room, trying to figure out what to do, and it just died. Stupid--I dropped my wand when I ducked his first Killing Curse. And that's when Avery and Goyle came skidding in the room, throwing hexes. My wand managed to land inches from Potter, who I actually thought was out cold."

"I followed the other two Death Eaters down the hall when the row started--I didn't want to be there when Lestrange woke up," Hermione told the solemn looking Headmaster. "And when I stuck my head around the corner and saw Professor Snape there, ducking curses from all three of them, and poor Harry passed out on the hearth...well...I guess I got mad."

"Mad?" Snape asked her incredulously, chuckling a bit. "Is that how you would describe it? Albus, she came running into this room, dripping blood and bellowing like a blinded bull. I don't even think the girl hesitated when she threw herself at Voldemort."

"I wasn't really thinking. All I knew was I had a weapon and that Voldemort has to bleed, right? Although, I don't think he's dead, quite. I don't know all that much about killing people, sir."

"I don't think that particular approach has ever been attempted before, Miss Granger," Dumbledore said tactfully.

"And somewhere in the middle of all this, Potter woke up, grabbed my wand, and Stunned Avery and Goyle. They hit me with a few curses first, of course, but nothing immediately fatal. Potter managed to tell us about the Portkey Malfoy used to abduct him in the first place before he passed out again, and Voldemort graciously stopped attempting to strangle Miss Granger long enough for us to escape," Snape finished, obviously trying to be flip in an effort to cover the gravity of the situation.

"That is certainly a most...interesting...tale, Severus, Miss Granger. And, of course, it must stay between us," Dumbledore told them sternly.

"Of course, sir," Hermione said. "Yes, Albus, certainly," Snape said at the same time.

"I ought to have you expelled," he said to Hermione, "and you fired," he told Snape. It slowly dawned on Hermione that Dumbledore was furious with them underneath his fading exterior of calm. "This is the most reckless, mindless stunt I have ever witnessed. You both could have died. And Mr. Potter, as well."

Hermione's eyes went round. "Oh, please, sir, we just wanted to help Harry!"

"Consider yourselves both on probation. Miss Granger, I think two weeks' of detention should suffice. I won't take any points from Gryffindor, but nor will I award them. Admittedly, wanting to save a friend is a good and noble thing, Miss Granger, but rushing headlong into danger is quite another. Severus, I cannot believe that you would put a student in such a position," Dumbledore said, as angry as Hermione had ever seen him. "You will administer Miss Granger's detentions and you will also serve double patrols for the next two weeks as well. I am grounding you, boy!" he snapped.

Snape bowed his head. "Yes, Headmaster," he said gravely.

"This is a difficult enough time without people actively trying to get killed. Do I make myself clear?" Dumbledore asked, eyes flashing.

Hermione felt tears at the corners of her eyes--she'd never been particularly close to the Headmaster, but she had the feeling that she'd somehow disappointed him gravely. "Yes, sir," she whispered, swiping quickly at her cheeks.

All of a sudden, Dumbledore softened, placing a warm hand on her shoulder and another on her cheek. "Oh, child, don't cry," he said quietly. "It is not as bad as all that. You did save young Mr. Potter's life today. And you probably caused a great deal of damage to Voldemort. If circumstances were different, I might be proud of you."

Hermione sniffled. That tenderness was all she needed to be pushed over the edge. In the past forty-eight hours, she'd been subjected to more pain than in the rest of her life put together. She managed to look up at Dumbledore and give him a soft little smile as he swept out of the room, but then she put her head on her knees and positively howled, the fear and the anger and the hurt all pouring out at once.

So when a pair of arms wrapped hesitantly around her shoulders, Hermione twisted so that she could embrace whoever it was and sobbed into an unidentified chest. A hand touched her hair.

"Come, now, Miss Granger," Snape muttered, "it can't all be that bad." Even his attempts at comfort were biting and sarcastic.

Hermione recoiled a bit--she was blubbering all over her hated Potions Master? "I--I'm sorry, sir," she said, rubbing at her eyes, "it's just..."

"It's been a very long day, Miss Granger. For both of us. But for you in particular, I think. I have heard that stress affects people strangely." Snape gave her arm one last pat and moved to a sitting position more on the edge of her bed.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Hermione asked suddenly, unable to contain her wonder at the fact that Snape had been fairly polite to her for nearly an entire day.

He studied his hands, placed firmly on his knees. "Miss Granger, you saved my life. I believe that entitles you to some civility. Besides, we will be serving our detentions together for the next two weeks." Was that a smile on his face?

"I was under the impression that you would be supervising my detentions," Hermione said with a lifted eyebrow.

Yes, definitely a smile. It widened to a noticeable expression. "Make no mistake, Miss Granger. The Headmaster has given me detention as well. Just more tactfully. I wouldn't be surprised if he showed up to deliver some odious task into our hands next week."

"As long as there are no toothbrushes and toilets involved," Hermione grumbled, remembering a particularly nasty detention she'd had to serve with Filch during her sixth year.

Snape actually snorted. She couldn't believe it. First a smile, then laughter? What was the world coming to?

Hermione and Snape both started at a loud groan coming from the bed across from hers. "Harry?" she asked cautiously. "Are you awake?"

"My headache has a headache," Harry complained crossly as he stirred. "Where are my glasses?"

"Haven't the foggiest," Hermione replied, elated that he was awake. "Madam Pomfrey probably has them stashed somewhere so you won't try to sneak out again."

Harry sighed and tried to sit up, wincing. "Boy, you sneak out of the infirmary once nearly two years ago, and suddenly you're not to be trusted."

"You're sounding awfully exuberant for someone who wasn't too far off from dead a few hours ago," she told him.

Yawning a bit, Harry shoved his hair out of his eyes and squinted at her and Snape. "What happened?" he asked faintly. "I remember...well, I remember Malfoy and you...and Snape! And then, then..."

"Malfoy took you to the Dark Lord," Snape said flatly. "Miss Granger and I took it upon ourselves to, ahem, liberate you."

Harry frowned a bit, trying to remember. "It's all fuzzy. I remember lots of blood. And screams. But not mine...and something, something with a wand? And you again, Professor Snape."

"Very good, Potter," he replied. "You retrieved my wand and hexed two Death Eaters with it. The screams you recall were probably Voldemort's--Miss Granger decided to play Amazon princess with a knife."

Harry's jaw dropped and Hermione glared fiercely at Snape. "I did not," she retorted. "And you, Professor, seem far too fascinated with my part of the evening."

"It's not every day, Miss Granger, that one sees a wandless young woman wound the most evil wizard of our Age badly enough to render him unconscious. I confess, I was rather surprised to see him bleed red." Snape offered her a smirk.

With a groan, Harry let his head drop back on his pillow. "I think I'm going back to sleep," he moaned.

"Good idea," Hermione said in a nearly cheerful tone. "The sooner you're back up to scratch, the sooner we can start plotting our escape."

"Might I remind you, Miss Granger," Snape said acidly, "that the Headmaster personally threatened you with expulsion this very evening? Now might not be the best time to stir up unnecessary trouble."

Harry's eyes shot open again and he pulled himself upright in bed, blankets falling to his waist. "What?" he cried. "Expelled? What on Earth for?"

Hermione suddenly found the quilt covering her bed to be intensely fascinating. "I...um...Professor Snape and I went off to fetch you without letting anyone know. But I'm not expelled, Harry. Just on probation and I've got a fair amount of detention. He didn't even take points off."

Flopping back, Harry sighed. "Thank God," he said.

"What, about the expulsion or the points?" she asked, teasing him.

Harry flushed. "I didn't mean--"

"I know, Harry. Go back to sleep," she told him fondly. "Probably I ought to be napping a bit myself," she said, looking at Professor Snape. "The more sleep we have, the more quickly Madam Pomfrey will let us out of the infirmary."

Nodding, Snape stood and made his way slowly back to his own bed. He appeared to fall asleep almost before his head touched the pillow.

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Forty-eight painful hours later, Hermione, Harry, and Professor Snape were all given a clean bill of health and turned smartly out of the infirmary. Hermione would be happy if she never had to taste chocolate ever again.

Of course, Madam Pomfrey hadn't completely mended Hermione's wounds--she claimed that the body did a much better job if left alone with things like scratches and bruises. So Hermione had to walk around the castle looking as if she'd been on the receiving end of a fistfight. Perversely, she was rather proud of the black eye and bruise marks around her neck left from Voldemort's assault. And Pomfrey had healed the wounds from Lestrange's knife so that Hermione could move around comfortably while her body knitted itself back together. The scabs itched.

Resisting the urge to scratch at her arm, Hermione turned to the other two and smiled a bit. "So, Professor, detention tonight?"

He nodded. "Eight, in my office, I suppose."

Harry shuffled his feet a bit, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Before we have to go back and everything, I suppose I should thank you both again for saving my life."

"Likewise, Potter," Snape said in a level voice. "Although I will ask you to attempt not to wind up in Malfoy's clutches again."

Grinning, Harry grabbed at Hermione's hand. "'Course, Professor. Come on, 'Mione! We can still get breakfast."

Hermione allowed Harry to tug her down to the Great Hall. Snape gave her one last bemused glance and swept off in the opposite direction, toward his office. "Good Lord, Harry," Hermione cried, "we don't have to run."

"Aren't you hungry?" he asked, but he let go of her hand.

"I just...can't run very well, all right?" she replied, exasperated. "Madam Pomfrey didn't heal my cuts fully, remember? She was afraid the scarring would be worse if she did."

Harry's face dropped. "Oh. I'm sorry, Hermione. I didn't realize how badly you'd been cut."

Sighing, she pulled back the collar of her jumper to reveal a long gash across her right shoulder. "Lestrange got me from head to foot basically. One really bad one on my side and another one running all the way down my front. I don't want them to pull open."

Eyes widening, Harry withdrew his hands immediately. "Good Lord," he breathed. "I'd no idea..."

"Don't worry about it, Harry. I'll heal," she replied. "Although I bet I look a fright right now."

Harry chuckled. "Like someone beat the living hell out of you."

She fingered one of the finger-bruises on her neck gently and with something akin to pride. "I'll just have to say that I look better in the pair of us. Shame I can't tell anyone where I got these."

Returning her grin, he tapped her nose playfully. "You'd be the talk of the castle for the next twenty years, you know. The girl who attacked You-Know-Who with a kitchen knife and lived to tell the tale!"

"We ought to get to breakfast," Hermione replied, dropping the subject. "Class starts soon and I bet we're supposed to attend since Pomfrey let us go."

Harry sighed but he began walking toward the Great Hall again. "What is today, anyway?"

"Thursday, I think. Transfiguration first, then Charms, and double Divination for you in the afternoon. I've got Arithmancy, of course, instead." She followed him and if she was walking more slowly than usual, he did not comment.

The Great Hall was still fairly crowded by the time Harry and Hermione arrived. They sat quickly at one end of the Gryffindor table--Hermione had reminded Harry on the way that they still had to go back up to the tower and grab their textbooks. Harry immediately began piling his plate with eggs and bacon while Hermione just grabbed an apple and bit into it thoughtfully.

"Oi, Harry! Hermione!" Ron Weasley shouted from the middle of the table. "You're back!"

"Yeah," Harry replied. Hermione just nodded, her mouth full of apple.

Jumping up from his original place, Ron slid into the seat beside Harry and gave his two friends a wide smile. "Boy, it was weird with you two being gone. Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let anyone in to see either of you and when we asked McGonagall about it, she told us to leave you alone. What was wrong? Are you better?"

Hermione smiled at Ron's chatter. She'd almost missed it. Almost. "We're better," she replied, taking another huge bite of apple. "Otherwise we wouldn't have been let out."

Ron swiveled in his chair to get a clear look at her. "Great Merlin, Hermione, what happened to you? You look like you've been thrashed."

Exchanging a highly amused look with Harry, she gave Ron an indulgent grin. "Oh, I was," she said by way of response. "But don't worry, Ron, I came off better than the person I was fighting."

"Who was it?" Ron asked excitedly. "It couldn't have been Malfoy--I saw him in Care of Magical Creatures yesterday."

Again, she smiled at his exuberance. "No one you know, Ron. Don't worry about it."

He harrumphed a bit. "Don't see why you wouldn't say."

"Dumbledore said I couldn't," she replied, struck with a sudden idea. "He even gave me two weeks of detention with Snape."

As she'd thought, Ron's eyes widened to the size of small dinner plates. "Hot damn, Hermione! You must have slugged a prefect or something!"

She permitted herself a final smile but said nothing, choosing instead to finish her apple.

Harry finished the last of his eggs with a noisy gulp and swigged the dregs of his pumpkin juice. "Hey, Hermione, how about I go back to the tower and grab your books for you. You can just go ahead to Transfiguration." His eyes flickered nearly imperceptibly to her shoulder, to the scabbing gash she'd shown him.

Hermione told herself to stop picking at the scab itching her belly as she caught Harry's meaning. "Thanks, Harry," she said gratefully.

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