The Shaft of the Arrow:

With some observations on our own destruction.

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Chapter 2: When You’re Thirteen

Where she was did not entirely come to her until the ceiling had stopped spinning in tight circles. The uniquely arched supports that melded with walls coupled with the splendid windows that allowed such a vastness of light to filter inside was (to her knowledge) only found in one particular room of the school. It was the sound of Madam Pomfrey’s voice that secured her in the knowledge that she was most certainly in the infirmary.

“Feeling a bit dizzy, I should think, dear.”

“Yes ma’am.” Hermione replied uneasily. Two hands helped her to sit upright; a pillow then placed behind her allowed her to sit upright in and become acquainted with her surroundings. Her vision had cleared, but speaking caused her stomach to flip and a new wave of nausea hit making her gag slightly on the vomit that reached to tickle her throat.

“Shouldn’t speak much either. You’re just waking up from a paralyzed state, Miss Granger and, trust me; you will be feeling ill for a few days yet.”

Hermione supposed that waking to the sound of a chipper Madam Pomfrey was better than waking to the sound of an upset one and Hermione took note to thank her lucky stars that she hadn’t died in that corridor near the library. Unfortunately, her lucky stars appeared to have little luck when the sound of an all too familiar voice broke her thoughts.

“It’s probably a good thing Poppy, Miss Granger here has a penchant for obtrusive and unnecessary chatter.”

Hermione hadn’t noticed him, standing just out of her vision and at the foot of an unused bed several down from her own.

“Now, now, Severus, The girl just woke up. Give her time to catch her bearings before you start dishing out your unpleasantness.”

Professor Snape was sure to shoot Madam Pomfrey an icy glare, but said nothing else while a glass of water and bits of food were placed in front of Hermione. How long had it been since she last ate? The infirmary had probably been administering potions while she was paralyzed, but those were all liquid and something solid was probably going to be very difficult to digest. And Madam Pomfrey and said that Professor Snape would be dealing out unpleasantness? Her stomach did another flip but it wasn’t because of the Mandrake potion, but at the realization that he was probably about to admonish her.

Ten or so strenuous and nerve-wracking minutes passed before Pomfrey finally nodded to Professor Snape. She left to tend to some of the other students, who, she noticed, were already dressed and getting ready to leave. Apparently she had been the last to wake up.

“Miss Granger.” A dangerous and cold drawl steered her eyes to her black-clad professor who now stood at the end of her bed.

“I’m not going to expect you to speak, but I do expect you to listen.”

She nodded in response, too afraid to speak even if she could.

“I know why you were down in the library, Miss Granger and I know what you and your silly friends were up to. There are a couple ends that we have yet to tie up and I plan on doing them now.”

With that Professor Snape, moving like a spider, rounded the bed to stand next to Hermione, his tall frame towering over her trembling form as he brought his voice to a silky whisper that betrayed nothing but anger.

“It will be fifty points from Gryffindor for your thoughtless destruction of school property. Despite the fact that a book can be easily repaired, Miss Granger that does not mean that their destruction is encouraged. An additional ten points will also be taken for being where you didn’t belong in the first place and for not being as easily repairable as the aforementioned book. You see, Miss Granger, you took the liberty of parading around the castle, despite the danger at hand. You’re lucky there was enough Mandrake potion left for you as I made sure that you would be the last to receive treatment; had there not been enough, you would only have your own foolishness to thank for missing several more months of your monotonous life.”

Hermione felt the pricks of embarrassment in her cheeks. She hadn’t met his eyes either and had, instead, opted to hang her head in shame and guilt. Never had a teacher been so displeased with her. Not once. And to hear his displeasure hurt more than she expected. He wasn’t a nice teacher, that was for certain, but approval, even from the most un-likeable people, always felt so important to her.

“Be thankful that the school year is nearly over. I have little want to keep you in detention despite how dearly you deserve it. I don’t think I could stand the company.”

His final comment pushed her over the edge. She was too young to neither have the self control of a seventh year student nor that rebellious teenage, self-righteous rage that so many of the older kids possessed, but she was at the age where crying was always an option. And cry she did. She hadn’t wanted him to see the tears on her face and she was sure that he couldn’t, but her sobs rocked her shoulders and she cried in her hands, hoping that when she was done he would have disappeared back into his dark and dank dungeon never to come out again.

“Severus?” Madam Pomfrey called from across the room, “What have you done?”

“Informed Miss Granger of her failings, Poppy and punished her rightfully for them.”

“Severus!” Madam Pomfrey transformed in that moment from a chirping mother to a madwoman. She pulled Snape aside roughly and out of earshot of the young witch. From where Hermione sat she could only hear an occasional word or phrase. Things like, “only thirteen!” were said in her defence (From Madam Pomfrey of course) and “deserves far worse!” said against her (From Professor Snape, of course). In the end he shot her Hermione’s and bloated face a scowl before taking leave of Madam Pomfrey and the infirmary.

As for Madam Pomfrey, she stood akimbo watching the surly departure of the Potions Master before turning back to an unhappy Hermione Granger.

“You pay no never mind to him, dear.” She said, handing out a handkerchief to the little girl, “He’s just mad that you and your friends were so on the ball.”

Despite the fact that the statement itself sounded as if it could be partially true, she doubted whether her potions Professor could really be so jealous. Obviously Harry and Ron had figured out what was going on, but what they had done about it she could only guess. Judging by Professor Snape’s short and angry discussion with her, it wasn’t something he liked.

And that only meant that it had to be something either really good, or really, very terribly bad.

Her stomach made another twist and this time she did throw up.

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AN: Hey, another chapter. As a side not I went and fixed up chapter one so it is all edited and such.

Isn't Snape a jerk? lol, as I said, I don't really know where this is going, just having some fun with the books. Once again, if anyone here could let me know how my characterization is coming out, that would be nice. heh, yeah, Hermione crying. To be honest, I really hate it when some fics have Hermione going into a furious rage with her teachers. Seriously, she may be a Gryffindor, but she isn't Harry or Ron. She knows better, but I think that at the age of thirteen I used to cry a lot and it was easier to cry than do anything else. Or maybe I don't remember being thirteen. Either way, I thought that crying suited Hermione more in this scene, partially because of her age and partially because of her character.

I know that everyone is probably like WTF, because Snape is being such a jerk, but lets face it, Snape can really be a jerk (and usually is). Plus, this is sort of taking place a long while before he notices her. (for God's sake she's thirteen! :) ) but I promise that (maybe not very soon, but at some point) they will gets to da lurve. I don't believe in a Snape that's soft on students. You shouldn't either. :P No matter how pretty/nice/wonderful/charismatic/smart that student is, Snape is not going to suddenly feel soft for them. He is a hardened ex-Death Eater... who makes thirteen year old girls cry XD I don't think that does wonders for his reputation, but he gets what he can take I suppose:P

Anyways, I have fun writing Authors Notes and have a tendancy to trail them out... kind of like this.

So, if you could leave a review that would be spiffy, if not, that's cool too.

Hope you all enjoyed!

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*** This is a non-profit fanfiction posted for entertainment purposes only. ***
I'm just having fun :)