Chapter 12
The days passed quickly. Professor McGonagall was furious to hear about the werewolves, but when the grounds were searched there was no sign of them. She decided only to inform two teachers of the staff, which were Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout. If someone in the castle had tipped the werewolves off, then it was best not to let that person know what the plan was. Professor McGonagall advised me not to go anywhere alone, not until the traitor was found.
My throat healed quickly thanks to Madam Pomfrey.
And then there was the matter of Professor Snape being a vampire. Once we'd returned to Hogwarts, he'd looked the same as always, which led me to assume that no one else knew.
I didn't know exactly what to say to him.
When we brewed, silence filled the room. It felt strange, as if there was a heaviness between us that hadn't been there before. And I had to admit, I missed our bantering and hearing his dry remarks.
The evening before I was going to return to the faeries, I decided to talk to him. I finished up my potion, stowed it away correctly, then went into Professor Snape's private lab, where he was working on his Cruciatus cure.
His back was turned to me. He'd taken off his black robes had draped them over a chair, leaving him in a white shirt.
I nervously bit my lip and knocked on the opened door. "Sir?"
Professor Snape didn't react. He'd probably heard me trample to his lab with his good hearing.
"I will be going to the faeries tomorrow."
Silence.
"Do you want to join me?"
Professor Snape laid his stirring rod aside. "I doubt you will need a babysitter on the way there," he said with a biting tone.
I furrowed my eyebrows in surprise. I'd actually expected him to stop me from going, considering what happened last week.
"Are you alright, sir?"
Professor Snape reached for a jar containing a dark green powder and unscrewed the lid. "I would be, if you would let me finish my work in peace."
Okay...what's got his knickers in a twist?
I gritted my teeth. Whatever he was so mad about, it wasn't my fault. I determinedly marched up to him and stopped beside the cauldron. I saw his face from the side, which appeared as cold as ever. He'd put on the mask that made him look as old as he was supposed to be.
"Are you angry because I know you're a vampire?"
Professor Snape's jaw tensed. He whirled around, slamming the jar onto the table, and took a step into my direction.
"Do not-", he hissed, "call me that."
I forced myself not to flinch back. "It wasn't your fault," I said firmly.
"Yes, Granger, it was! I almost killed you, for Merlin's sake!"
I narrowed my eyes. "You're not a monster," I said, "Despite what you may think. It wasn't your fault."
A deep growl vibrated in Professor Snape's throat and his eyes narrowed.
"So it wasn't my fault that I wanted to drink your blood until not a single drop was left?" he said sharply. He took another step into my direction, his black eyes burning furiously. "That when I heard your call for help, all I could think of was biting into the warm flesh of your neck?"
His skin smoothened as he unconsciously revealed his true face. His teeth elongated, until sharp fangs had grown past his lower lip and his hair grew even longer, until long black hair fell down his back. I took a step back, only to bump with my hip into the table behind me.
My heartbeat accelerated and I felt for my wand, which was hidden in my left sleeve. Before I could move, Professor Snape placed his hands left and right of me and bent forward, until his face was just inches away from mine.
"Or is it not my fault," he hissed quietly, "that whenever I hear your heartbeat, I think of nothing else than your blood?"
A shiver went down my spine. Was that really what he felt whenever we brewed together? I'd never even noticed-
Oh. The incident with the Goosegrass. After that, he'd avoided me like the plague.
I blinked and stared into dark, inky eyes. "That's a shame," I whispered, "I thought you'd begun to appreciate my intellectual skills."
"You are not the only one on this planet with a brain."
I felt his cool breath wash over my face. Something began to tingle in my stomach as I fought to keep my breathing steady.
"Then it should be easy for you to find a new apprentice, if there's no cure for me," I breathed.
Something flickered in Professor Snape's eyes. "Indeed, you could be replaced," he said with a deep growl.
I cocked my head slightly.
"So why are you really helping me then? Surely not because you're after my blood?"
I got no reply. Instead, I suddenly realized how close we were. I was leaning against a table, with Professor Snape standing right in front of me. Suddenly, a cold mask slid onto Professor Snape's face and he stepped back.
"Out," he snapped and whirled around, grabbing his robes from the chair.
I remained frozen to the spot, my chest still heaving. With disbelieving eyes, I watched him cast a stasis charm onto the cauldron, before he strode out of the room. The door slammed shut.
What was that?
****
The next day, I went to the faeries by myself. I wasn't in the mood to ask Professor Snape again, especially because I still had a hard time sorting my feelings and my thoughts.
I had to get a grip. My complete attention was supposed to be on my apprenticeship and on finding a cure for my curse.
Severus' P.O.V.:
I was furious at myself. Never had I let the vampire get control over my actions. And not until Granger's blood had somehow awakened my thirst for it, did I have troubles suppressing my hunger.
I'd been this close to losing control again in my lab. That infuriating witch didn't even seem to know how close exactly.
The sooner she broke the curse, the sooner this would stop and I wouldn't have to work with her on finding a cure anymore. I could get back to giving her orders on what to brew, without having to be in the same room with her.
Why again did I have the glorious idea to make her my apprentice?
When Granger left for the faeries, I followed her silently. I had no intention of getting any closer to her than I had to, but whoever had given the orders to kidnap her was still in the castle.
My eyes scanned the trees as I silently leapt from branch to branch, no more like a shadow. I slightly parted my lips and inhaled the air, tasting the scent of leaves and earth.
There was no one else nearby.
Granger walked quickly. When she reached the clearing with the faeries, I stayed back. The tiny winged creatures buzzed out of their beehive, carrying the notebook to the witch.
I saw her talking to them, but again, I could only hear the buzzing of the faeries' wings. Yet the confused expression that appeared on Granger's face led me to believe, that the secrets the runes held were not the ones she'd hoped for.
Hermione's P.O.V.:
I stuffed the notebook back into my bag and slowly walked through the forest, my mind still reeling from what the faeries had told me.
I'd gotten it completely wrong.
So very, very- wrong.
The curse that forced me to turn into a Cygnus Cantare every night was no curse at all.
Nimue had placed a spell on Odette that made her turn into a Cygnus Cantare as long as the sun touched the sky. But when the sorceress had done this, she hadn't meant to condemn Odette to a life as a swan during the day.
That spell- had been a gift.
Nimue had lived in a time when everybody and everything magical had been hunted and killed. The sorceress knew that where only hate and fear ruled the peoples' minds, there could be no openness for change. So, she set upon herself the task of returning to the people the gift of love, to unite them again.
The Singing Swans had been extinct by the time Nimue was born. The swans had been special creatures and their true power hadn't been healing or showing others their soulmates, like hundreds of tales described. No, the Singing Swans opened a person's bitter heart, allowing them to shortly feel what it meant to truly love.
Nimue knew that she couldn't transform just anyone into a Cygnus Cantare. It had to be a person whose will was strong, but whose heart was open and kind. The faeries had translated that Nimue had been searching for 'The one with the heart of gold'. And she'd found it in Odette.
Odette agreed to it and continued living as a swan during the day, and as a human at night. Nimue made a loophole in the spell, which allowed Odette to fully return to a human life, if she ever fell in love. It had to be true love, nothing else.
But Nimue's magic was stronger than she and Odette realized. It continued on in Odette's child. And then in Odette's granddaughter.
Neither of them turned into a Cygnus Cantare because they did not have this 'heart of gold' that was needed for the spell. Yet the magic still turned them into swans.
Odette begged Nimue to take back the spell because she did not want her descendants to suffer from her decision. Nimue couldn't take the spell back, but she managed to change it. Instead of transforming during the day, Odette's descendants would now turn into a swan at night. Not all of them would turn into a Cygnus Cantare, but Nimue hoped that the ones who did, would understand that they weren't cursed.
They'd been blessed with a gift.
My head lifted when I stepped out of the forest. Hogwarts rose into the air before me, its towers and turrets gleaming in the sunlight. But I barely noticed its beauty, for my mind was still far away.
If this really was a gift, what exactly was I supposed to do with it? I'd only sung twice as a swan, how was I supposed to bring love to others?
I tiredly shook my head and entered the castle. I almost bumped into Professor Wernin, who was on his way out.
"Excuse me," I mumbled and moved past him.
I didn't notice his eyes watching me until I'd disappeared inside.
But someone else did.
Severus' P.O.V.:
My eyes narrowed as I saw Wernin pause to stare after Granger. There was something in his expression I did not like at all.