Infinity Times Infinity

Halloween soon came around and, to be in the season, Hogwarts was decorated for the mood. You were sitting in between the twins at the Gryffindor table, happily chatting about a prank they were waiting to be executed soon. Everyone was having a good time and stuffing themselves with Halloween treats offered in tonight’s feast. You were scooping some ice cream onto your spoon when you began to feel off. A wave of pain flashed over you suddenly, causing you to double over. 

“Are you okay, Y/N?” George asked. Fred placed a hand behind your back in an attempt to soothe you. 

“Yeah, must’ve been something I ate.” Another wave of pain struck you, but this time you managed to suppress it, only wincing a bit. “I think I’m going to head to bed early, Happy Halloween you two.” 

“We should accompany you to your dorm,” Fred began, but you raised your hand urging him that you were okay.

“I’ll be okay, don’t worry you two, goodnight.”

You quickly got up and headed out the Great Hall trying your best to make it to the second-floor bathroom. Lucky for you, it was abandoned and a perfect place for you to hide.  

You were experiencing symptoms again for the second time that day, but they had all been false alarms. As you ran down the corridor you could feel your bones flare and your skin grow itchy. Then suddenly, in the next second, it stopped. You slowed your steps and caught your breath. 

Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to spend another night in the bathroom just in case, you thought. Myrtle would enjoy the company. 

The days before and after the night of the full moon, you wouldn’t transform again, but you experienced flashes of pain and uncomfortableness. You called these phases ‘symptoms’ because that’s exactly what they were: phantom transformation symptoms. Your father was worried about having a child because of his lycanthropy, and his worries became reality when he realized that you were also a werewolf like him. He blamed himself any chance he got, but you had to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault.

You nearly didn’t attend Hogwarts because of your lycanthropy, but Dumbledore had made arrangements just like he had for your dad, but for your case, it was a little different. One thing no one could explain was how you could manage to maintain your human mind while transformed, unlike your dad who was taken over by pure primal instinct every full moon. 

Thing was, phantom symptoms never happened like this before. Not until an incident occurred when you were eight… that’s when those uncontrollable bursts of pain and uncomfortableness all started. Throughout the years, however, you managed to suppress most of them, knowing fully well that you weren’t at risk of transforming.

You were making your way towards the bathroom when you heard it. It was faint and almost nonexistent, but it became louder with passing seconds as it approached you.

“Kill… Time to kill…” A raspy, whispering voice seemed to say from behind you. You turned around and drew your wand at the ready, but saw nothing. The voice continued as if it had passed beside you. “So hungry for so long…” it hissed. You turned around, looking frantically for its source like an idiot who was hearing a disembodied voice. 

For some reason you had an urge to follow the voice, you didn’t see where you were headed, you were so focused on the voice as it continued to travel down the hallway. The voice nearly roared. “Blood! I smell blood!”

You ran faster, ignoring the creaking of your bones as you ran through the corridor. If it planned to kill someone, you needed to help them. You turned the corner… Then suddenly it stopped. You continued down the hallway until you came across a large puddle taking up almost the entire hallway. 

It’s flooded?

You made your way into the puddle when you noticed something hanging from a torch. The frozen body of Mrs. Norris hung from the hilt… she looked terrified. You were about to approach it when the sound of steps headed towards you made you look away. It was then that you saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione make their way over from the other end of the hallway.

“Y/N?” Harry asked as he skidded to a stop.

You weren’t exactly close to the trio, only spoke here and there since they hung around the twins and were from Gryffindor, but you all knew each other enough to hold small talk. That was, if the rivalry between your houses weren’t in the way.

“I just got here,” you said, raising your hands up in defense. “What are you guys doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at the feast?”

“Same goes for you,” Hermione said, deflecting your question awkwardly. “We were just leaving Sir Nicholas’ deathday party. Why aren’t you with the twins and Lee?” Hermione asked. 

“I started feeling unwell, so I left, but then I heard —” you stopped yourself short from saying anything else. You weren’t sure if you wanted to continue. It was crazy to say that you had heard and followed —

“A voice? You didn’t by any chance hear a voice did you?” Harry interrupted you. He seemed uncertain, regretting having asked at all, but he already had. He wrung his fingers anxiously. “Saying it was going to kill?” 

You were stunned. You weren’t quite sure if you were going mad following a disembodied voice, but now Harry was saying he heard it too. You nodded reluctantly. “Yeah, I did — how did you know?”

“I heard it! We were on our way to the Great Hall when—”

“The chamber of secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir beware.” Someone read out loud from behind you. The feast must have ended already if students were now walking the halls. Wait — you recognized that voice. It was Draco’s. “You’ll be next, Mudbloods!”

The next few minutes were hectic. Filch was erratic, blaming Harry for having killed Mrs. Norris. The three of them were trying to defend themselves but all Filch could do was accuse them. You tried to deescalate the situation but only managed to shift the blame onto you. Upon doing so, Snape and McGonagall noticed your pained state and immediately stepped closer to you.

“The three of you will come with me,” McGonagall stated before turning to you. “As for you Miss Lupin, Professor Snape would like to have a word with you — Everyone back to your dormitories! Now!” She instructed the students who littered the hallways. The rest of the professors began rounding up their students, easing their worries and shushing their curious questions. 

You turned to look at Snape who only managed to let slip a short glance before signalling over his shoulder to follow him to his office. It was unusual, to say the least, but Professor McGonagall and Snape must both have something in mind, and you trusted them, you were practically raised by the two — how could you not? You did a quick look over to the sea of students and saw the twins giving you worried looks, Lee was next to them mirroring the same. They began to walk over to you, but Snape stopped them short. 

“I advise you all go to your dorms before I start deducting points from Gryffindor for defying orders from your head of house. You can speak to Miss Lupin tomorrow morning.” He said curtly. He whipped back around, his cloak trailing him as he did so. You just gave the boys a sympathetic smile and a wave goodbye before leaving. 

Solaris and Adrian, who were amongst the Slytherins, approached you as well, but Snape only had to glance at them for them to stop. The three of you shared looks and left before they got reprimanded by another professor.

You followed Snape down a corridor and the two of you remained quiet as you made your way down a flight of stairs. The quiet didn’t feel strained, it was actually quite nice until you wondered why you were accompanying him to his office. 

“Umm, so… why exactly are we going to your office?”

“Well, the hallway is now off-limits and the abandoned bathroom you occupied will be shut down until the space is cleared of danger.” 

“Danger?” You asked, walking a few inches behind him. “Is the chamber dangerous? I wasn’t aware that there was a chamber of secrets in Hogwarts.”

His pace falters for a second before he picks it back up again. “It’s an exaggerated tale told by students, changing and twisting through the years. There is no chamber of secrets.”

You blew out a huff of air. “I’m not a kid, you know. You can tell me.”

Snape remained quiet as the two of you walked down the hallway. His cape bounced with every step and you were tempted to step on it so you could catch his attention. That would be a terrible idea and you would probably never see the light of day again. Yeah, you probably shouldn’t step on it. 

“Professor?”

Silence.

“Snape.”

More silence. You were starting to get irritated at the lack of an explanation.

“Sev?” You asked softly, hoping to get a reaction out of him knowing how he hated you using that nickname while in school. When he didn’t say anything you sighed and walked with a little more irritation in every step. 

You refrained from asking any more questions and tried to keep up with his long strides. Being friends with the Weasley twins helped you walk faster seemingly. Soon enough the two of you had made your way over to the dungeons. The cold damp smell filled your nostrils, but it didn’t bother you much. The dungeons were where your dorms resided and you spent a lot of time in Snape’s classroom studying potions so it made sense to the lack of disgust most would have. Sooner or later, the smell subsided regardless.

He opened the door to his classroom and motioned for you to enter. You stepped into familiar territory, smiling softly at the room. You walked over to a desk and touched the dark wood nonchalantly, the grain grazing your skin. Your feeling of peace soon ended when another wave of pain made you double over. You gripped the edge of the desk to steady yourself, the flare nearly causing you to fall to the floor. You were dramatic at times, but the pain really made you feel like a drama queen. 

Snape approached you, his hand extended outwards to grab hold of your arm, but ended up retracting it at the last second. Something seemed to hold him back, something he wasn’t quite ready to face. “Your withdrawals seem to be getting worse. I’ll see if I have any sleeping draught in my cupboard. Wait here.”

His footsteps dissipated and you felt alone in the room. You broke into a light sweat as your grip tightened over the desk, your symptoms were being bitchy for some reason this month. If you didn’t manage to get some rest tonight, you were sure to feel like shit tomorrow too. A night in the infirmary was not looking appealing at all. Snape’s footsteps snapped you out of your fuzzy thoughts. 

You barely managed to stand up, leaning heavily against the corner of the desk to steady yourself when Snape handed you a small chalice with a dark purple liquid inside. You nearly dropped it from how exhausted your body felt. The time from between events seemed to feel longer than what actually happened, your body heavy and laggy. Luckily for you, Snape managed to catch the chalice before you could drop it and spill any of its contents. He gave you a scowl, but the emotion behind the furrowing of his brows was more so that of worry rather than annoyance. 

Your body wasn’t this weak after the full moon, and your body’s response seemed to trigger something inside Snape. He brought the chalice up to your lips and tilted it enough for the draught to flow out. This was a bit different than what he would do, but he looked genuinely worried and much rather chose to help you than get an earful from McGonagall. Once you emptied its contents, he placed the cup down and led you to a different part of the classroom. 

He made his way over to a bookshelf, which with the tap of his wand, moved aside and revealed a door. You approached the bookshelf carefully so as to not stumble over your own feet, and as you did he opened the door. The inside looked cozy. It was like a bookworm’s nook for a peaceful day of absolute reading bliss. A wall was aligned with short bookshelves littered with books of all kinds. To the adjacent wall was what seemed to be a small bed. There wasn’t much, but it was nice, very unlike Snape. The draught was beginning to make you drowsy fairly quickly, which he noticed and motioned for you to step inside. 

He led you over to the bed before stepping out of the room again, returning a few seconds later. 

“Minerva dropped this off.” He handed you a pair of your sleeping robes. “I’ll wake you so you may return to your dorm early.”

You managed to give him a thankful smile and clutched the clothes closer to your chest. He only gave you a less than annoyed face in return, then turned to leave you alone in the makeshift quarters. 

“Goodnight,” you muttered without thinking, the sleeping draught already taking effect. The feeling you felt was warm and inviting. It almost made you feel as if your father was tucking you into bed and bidding you goodnight from the door. All that was missing was a kiss to the forehead and you were set, but you would have been weirded out if Snape had done so. 

Snape, of course, said nothing as he shut the door. A faint click meaning you were locked inside the room. Extra precautions just in case, you supposed. As quickly as you could manage because of your labored movements, you changed your clothes and climbed into your bed. 

Sleepily, you closed your eyes, just faintly seeing a shadow from beneath the door shift before sleep could wash over you. Snape must’ve been right outside the door listening in to make sure you hadn’t lost consciousness halfway through changing and have you bleeding out to death. You weren’t quite sure how tired you must’ve been that night if you heard a reply back from Snape, even if it were minutes late. 

“Goodnight,” he said, just faintly from behind the closed door.