Hermione
Chapter Seven
Hermione
As the days got colder and the lake began to freeze to solid ice Hermione found herself near Severus on her morning run. Some days she would pass by him as he was returning to the castle, other days he would be starting his run as she finished her run. Most days though, she found herself jogging a little ways behind him. Ever since the library incident she found that he would actually return her wave with a brief nod before he continued on. As the colors of winter bleached through she found she wasn't sure where else to look when she would end up running behind him. Usually she stared somewhere between the back of his head and the ground directly in front of her. She most definitely did not stare at his backside. The backside that was enticing enough to have her glancing back at it when she tried to pull her eyes upwards. She also most definitely did not stare at the way his muscles moved in his running clothes or the way sweat beaded on the small amount of visible skin he displayed. She absolutely did not think about the way the muscles of his arms felt when she'd grabbed onto them in the library weeks ago. No matter what she did not meet his eyes when they ran. Just in case he was still a practicing legilimens, she did not need him knowing what was going on in her head. She really needed to nip the habit in the bud before she embarrassed herself, nothing good would come from staring at him.
Other than their runs she didn't see Severus often. They would run into each other on the stairs or in the hall and of course see the other at meal times but other than that his habits seemed to stay consistent and isolated from the rest of the castle. She had only been trapped by the castle's magic twice in the past two months, both times he freed her and asked after her health before nodding and leaving her to her own devices.
Hermione didn't get to observe him for very long before she was caught but she did feel more comfortable in her knowledge of his character. She would never call him kind to the students but he was never as cruel or apathetic as he once was. Clearly the war had taken its toll on him but he seemed much more at ease around others than he once had. She'd even seen him offer to help tutor a group of second years without sighing dramatically.
As she ran today she saw Hagrid and Luna on their way to the gamekeepers cottage, they waved her over on her way back to the castle. The snow packed path created by Hagrid's comings and goings made running over to them much easier than part of the trail she would run on by the lake.
Perhaps she should change her route, she thought to herself.
"Luna! Hagrid! It's lovely to see you, how are you both this morning?" Hermione asked quite gleefully, she had missed the half giant. He'd been out of the castle since just after the beginning of term and it was nice to catch up again.
"Ahh, it's good to see ya Hermione! I'm doing swell, Luna here took good care of the creatures while I was away." He smiled broadly at the two women. "Almost as if I never left ain't it? I couldn'ta asked for a better apprentice!"
Luna beamed up at him. "That's kind of you Hagrid, thank you. I had plenty of help from both Neville and Hermione, I couldn't have managed quite so easily without them you know." She smiled at Hermione. "Hagrid was just telling me about his time in Egypt with Charlie. He says the dragons were quite breathtaking."
"Absolutely stunning! Not a more majestic creature out there is there? Well maybe a unicorn of course but ya hardly get to see them unless ya know where to look. Course ya could say the same for dragons then couldn't ya?" Hagrid rambled on about dragons for a few moments, Hermione and Luna sharing a look, before she bid the two goodbye with the promise to get together at the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer before too long. She loved Hagrid but he could talk for an age and she'd be late for her classes if she didn't get up to the castle soon.
Hermione managed to get up to her rooms and shower before she gathered her materials and made her way to her classroom before she was trapped by one of the castles magical outburst once again. What rotten timing, she thought. With nothing else to do but wait she sat on the floor and began to grade the remainder of her students work on the Obliviation charm. As she neared the end of her stack she knew something must be wrong, it had been over an hour. Severus had never taken so long to get to her, at most she waited half that time. Her students would likely be enjoying the unexpected free period but a whole day of students roaming her classroom without supervision was certainly not ideal. Hermione began the process of calming her mind before it ran away with her. Taking deep methodical breaths she rationalized that Severus did know she was stuck and likely knew where she was as well. If he couldn't get to her that means he likely had other pressing matters to attend to, there was the possibility that other bubbles had formed or perhaps he was indisposed. He knew she had students so he could be arranging their care in her absence as well. Minerva knew about these magical discrepancies so she could very well be monitoring her students when one of the more responsible ones likely searched for a teacher. At least she was able to use her wand to keep warm. Her teachers robes were a bit thin for the chill in the corridors. As she paced back and forth reciting potions instructions and ingredients to several potions she started to get seriously concerned she wouldn't be found for some time. As it neared closer to three hours since she'd wandered into the castles trap she began moving through dueling poses. At least this way her time wouldn't be wasted.
After another hour Severus found her laying flat on the floor with her legs up against the wall. She blushed and moved to quickly right her robes and demand answers from him for his delayed response but he had already turned and began walking away briskly. His cloak billowing out behind him made Hermione smile to herself before rushing to catch up to the infuriating man.
"Severus!" She called as she jogged to catch up to him. "Severus, I would like to speak to you."
"I'm sure you would Ms. Granger. However as I have another half dozen magical anomalies to rectify it would benefit both of us greatly to have this conversation later." He continued his brisk stride as he spoke, turning towards Ravenclaw tower she followed him.
"Another half dozen? How many are there? Was anyone else trapped? I thought you said they'd been more infrequent?" Hermione questioned as she kept pace with him, much to Severus' annoyance.
He opened the door and gestured them inside the bridge. Hermione looked up at him quizzically before sidling in ahead of him.
"Thank you, sir." She said, not quite sure how to take his chivalry.
Severus rolled his eyes "I am not a brute Ms. Granger and I assume you will not be satisfied with waiting until this evening to pursue your line of questioning?" Hermione blushed and opened her mouth to speak before Severus continued "And if that is indeed the case, as I imagine it will be, I assume you will be willing to assist me in retrieving anyone else caught in one of these anomalies." Brow raised, he continued through the bridge at his usual brisk pace, Hermione followed, keeping up without issue. After a moment he answered "They have not been appearing at this frequency since I ..emerged.. Minerva has a few theories as to why they are appearing once again. I am unaware of whether or not there are people in the bubbles, just that they exist. I apologize for the delay in retrieving you. As I said, there were six other zones I needed to attend to in the most efficient route possible."
Severus and Hermione continued on in silence until they reached the next abnormality. As Hermione watched Severus raise his wand and murmur something unintelligible as he pushed closer to the bubble she couldn't help but try and catalog as much of the scene before her. There was a sort of iridescent glow coming off the affected area that seemed to dissipate as Severus continued chanting under his breath.
Muttering to himself he glanced in her direction before nodding towards the staircase. Hermione continued following, the next anomaly had a similar glow that she didn't see when trapped within the bubble. Clearing her throat she asked "Do they always glow like this?"
Severus glanced at her and nodded while he continued to mutter counterspells, once the bubble started to disintegrate they moved on to wherever the next one was hidden. Hermione asked "Do you feel them all at once? Does the feeling of each site get more powerful when you remove one or does the feeling lessen in general since there's one less? How many of these have you removed? What counterspell are you using?"
Severus sighed before rattling off answers for her. "Yes, Stronger individually, lesser presence in my mind, countless, and a charm of my own making. Anything else?" He continued striding down the hall until they arrived at the great hall. Luckily it seemed lunch was over. Hermione's stomach growled at the reminder that she hadn't eaten. Severus glared at her before turning to the three abnormalities in the room.
"Are you able to work on all of them at once, if not how do you decide which goes first? Does it matter? Can you tell if anyone is in them from here?"
"Hermione. Must you ask so many questions?" Severus sighed, his body tired after such heavy magic use. "I cannot tell if anyone is in there. I haven't seen a difference between any of the abnormalities, the magical signature seems to be the same for them all. Removing them one at a time is hard enough, I don't believe I can manage more than that."
As Severus began working on the one closest to the entrance Hermione began circling the one in the corner. Glancing back to see Severus turned away from her she took the opportunity to reach out and stroke the bubble with the back of her hand. The magic didn't suck her into itself as she predicted it might, rather it hummed where she touched the side, her fingers warmed where they came in contact. Feeling bolder and more curious she rubbed her hand over the surface. Hermione didn't notice the way Severus tensed. Nor did she notice the way his wide eyes turned towards her as her fingers nimbly swiped at the magic. She focused on how the magic felt as she pushed her arm into the bubble more fully. The warmth spreading. It was curious how she hadn't been able to feel anything like this from the other side. Glancing back at Severus, who had turned back to finish dispatching the first bubble, she slowly slipped into the last one.