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Snape's Apprentices	By : Lalani Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 26336 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, everything that you recognize belongs to the amazingly talented JKRowling! I do not make any money or profit off of it.

Chapter List
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AN: Many thanks to my lovely Beta-Reader, M! And don't forget to review, review, review!

Chapter Fifteen

DPOV

He was hurrying along the halls, keeping to the shadows. After Professor Snape had left, he had thought of something. He was rushing down to the dungeons to talk to his Head of house, but keeping to the shadows. When he was crouching behind on of the statues to the entrance of the dungeons he saw a figure hurry down.

His curiosity piqued, he followed more slowly and carefully, making sure he wasn’t lingering. He moved down the hallway until he reached the door and looked inside. Draco couldn’t see far enough into the room to make out everything without sticking his head in, but he quickly looked around to see if anyone was in the vicinity of the door. When he didn’t see anyone, he relied on his memory of where everything was and moved into the room, still crouched low. He hid under the nearest table, careful to keep a silencing spell around him while he moved. It was something his father had taught him.

He looked around and saw the door to the Potions storeroom wide open. The quiet sounds of clinking bottle came from the vicinity. He kept his eyes trained on the door and started chanting a tracking spell quietly. He put it on the floor in front of the classroom door, so that when the person left he would be able to follow. He was counting on the other person to be in a hurry and not noticing the tracker. If he or she wasn’t disillusioned, it didn’t matter, he would know who it was. He knew it could very well be another student, but with what had been happening to Hermione he wasn’t taking any chances.

The culprit was obviously finished, because he heard heavy footfalls coming from the storeroom.

When the person reached the doorway he felt his breath catch in his throat. It was Professor Sprout, Head of House to Hufflepuff. She was hurrying out of the classroom just then, stepping over the tracker and moving out. For a moment he froze, then he kept up the silencing spell and moved out behind her. He saw her turn the corner into one of the halls that went down into the sub-dungeons and hurried after her. He knew that Snape would be able to see who had gotten into his stores and catch up with them.

She went into the deeper halls of the castle, the walls turned from the already dark stone that had been used at Hogwarts, to deep black, magically charged stone that usually made up the foundations of magical houses. It was a fail-safe so the buildings would not get structural damage. Since magic had the habit of settling down, even the air was charged with the deep magical resonance that was always in the air in Hogwarts. It was almost uncomfortable here in the sub-dungeons.

He kept on walking, passing deserted rooms, and on more than one occasion, destroyed rooms. He hid in the archways of those classrooms the moment he could, in case Professor Sprout turned around, but she kept on walking on, blissfully unaware. His back was starting to hurt from all of the crouching he was doing, but his insatiable Slytherin curiosity kept him from giving up. When she turned into one of the doorways, he quickly tried to follow, but found the door closed when he arrived. He looked around and saw a pile of rocks from a collapsed wall further down the hallway. He moved over and hid behind them, making himself comfortable for the wait. He had barely settled himself down when the air seemed to go black. Before he could react he heard an unearthly wail echo through the halls. He stood up and was halfway across the way to open the door of the classroom Professor Sprout had gone into, when the door was wrenched open. The blackness in the air disappeared and Professor Sprout came tumbling out of the room. She was gasping for air and clutching her chest, her eyes on the floor.

Draco sprinted towards her when she pitched forward and caught her before she could hit the ground.

“Professor Sprout! Professor! Can you hear me?” he called, taking off his jacket and putting it under her head like a pillow, while he rearranged her limbs until she was stretched out on the floor.

She didn’t react but rather stared up at the ceiling with glassy eyes and a partially opened mouth. Her breath came in heavy gasps that lifted her chest up and down and made her body twitch. He grabbed her wrist and looked for her pulse, finding her skin clammy with cold sweat.

“Shit.” He cursed under his breath and lifted his wand, casting a quick Patronus. The Misty form of a shark formed, before lazily ‘swimming’ back and forth in the air in front of him.

“Professor Sprout is seriously hurt. She is hot but sweating cold and she can’t get enough air. We are in the Sub-dungeons. Please, hurry.” He spoke to the Patronus and sent it up. The shark took off quickly, leaving him with a quickly deteriorating Professor Sprout. She was starting to sweat heavily and her lips were slowly turning blue. He cursed again and tilted her head slightly back, trying to clear up her airway. She kept on gasping though and he stared at her helplessly.

He pulled his hands through his hair and felt desperation settle into his gut. For all that they were taught at Hogwarts and what he had been taught about the Dark Arts by his parents, no one had ever taught him how to actually save someone’s life. He racked his brain for any Healing Spells he had ever come in contact with.

“Anapneo!” he cried, when he remembered that he had once started choking on something. He didn’t know if it would help with whatever was going on here, but he didn’t know what else to do.

He noticed that he hadn’t actually cast the spell, so he repeated it more calmly.

“Anapneo!” he said with determination while he pointed his wand at Professor Sprout. For a second he thought it hadn’t worked, since her breath stayed as raspy and heavy as before. The, her chest gave one huge heave and her breath came easy again, colour rushing into her lips and her eyes losing some of their glassiness. She turned her eyes towards him and looked at him, surprise registering in them when she noticed it was him.

“Professor Sprout, can you hear me? If you can, blink once.”

She blinked once at him and he nodded. Before he could ask more questions he heard footsteps echo in the hallway. He turned towards the sound and saw Professor Snape stalking towards them, his robes billowing behind him and a murderous look on his face. He rushed towards them when he saw Professor Sprout laying prone on the floor.

“What happened, Mr. Malfoy?” Professor Snape asked while pulling out his wand and running it over his colleague.

“I do not know. I was on my way to talk to you and saw Professor Sprout on her way to your office. She was the reason I wanted to talk to you, so I followed her. She took something out of your storeroom and then came down here. She went into that room over there and whatever happened made her like this. I only heard a wail and everything went dark for a moment. After that, she came out of there staggering and gasping for breath.”

“Hm. I see. She has been paralyzed by some kind of spell. It is easy to lift. Did you do anything to her? Cast a spell or something?” Professor Snape asked.

“Yes, an Anapneo. She was choking.”

“Good, now go and get Madame Pomfrey.”

“I sent a Patronus to her. She should be here soon. Professor Sprout was just well enough to answer me just now. By blinking, though. Once for yes.”

Professor Snape nodded and then looked Professor Sprout in the eyes.

“Pomona, did you use Dark Magic in there?” He saw Professor Sprout blink three times at that and Professor Snape frowned.

“Did you ban Dark Magic or battle it?” he asked, apparently figuring something out. She blinked at him once and he nodded, before casting a series of spells wordlessly and so fast, Draco couldn’t follow. He was feeling exceedingly helpless and wanted to get up and go for Madame Pomfrey himself when he heard steps again. Looking up he saw the Medi-Witch run towards them with a bag in her hands and both the Headmaster and Professor McGonagall behind her.

“Severus, what is going on? I got a Patronus message from Mr. Malfoy about Pomona. Mr. Malfoy, kindly move out of the way.” Madame Pomfrey said, while knocking him aside and kneeling down next to Professor Sprout. He glanced at her, annoyed at her attitude. The Medi-Witch didn't like any of the Slytherins and always treated them roughly.

“She banned some kind of Dark Magic. Mr. Malfoy here had been following her. Juvenile curiosity and permanent stupidity. Lucky for Pomona, though, he was close enough to free her airways with a quick Anapneo, but she is paralyzed. Whatever she did caused her to go into shock.” Professor Snape answered, while pointing his wand at Professor Sprout’s neck. Madame Pomfrey was rummaging in her back before pulling out two vials, one red and one white.

She bent over Professor Sprout’s head and forcibly opened the other woman’s mouth further before pouring both potions into her throat. Professor Snape was massaging her throat so she would swallow.

“I hope you are unhurt, Mr. Malfoy?” the Headmaster finally asked him. Both the Headmaster and MocGonnagal turned towards him and looked him over. He raised an eyebrow sardonically, finding it amusing that they had overlooked him in favour of Professor Sprout.

“Yes. I might have stupidly followed her here, but nothing happened to me. Kind of you to ask, Professor Dumbledore.” He answered, lowering his eyes quickly at the sharp look the Headmaster cast his way. It wouldn’t do him any good if the Headmaster got too annoyed with his behaviour.

“Very well then. Tell us exactly what happened.” The wizard said. Draco launched into how he had been following Professor Sprout, leaving out the real reason for his late-night snooping. Rather, he told them he had been on his way to the kitchens for a late night snack and had been distracted by his Professor walking by him.

“I see. Well, Minerva, come along, let us check out what went on in there. Poppy, when you are finished, take Mr. Malfoy with you.” The Headmaster said.

He finished just as both Professor Snape and Madame Pomfrey finished with Professor Sprout. They summoned a stretcher and levitated her on top of it.

“I will be taking her to the infirmary, then.” Madame Sprout said to the Headmaster, who nodded at her. She took off and Draco followed her.

SPOV

After helping Pomona, he had gone after the Headmaster and Minerva to see what had been happening inside the abandoned classroom. Inside, they had found a Potions lab, complete with the ingredients for the potion Hermione had been slipped. He was barely getting his head around the fact that it had been Pomona who had done everything. The only thing they couldn’t explain was the Diary of Tom Riddle she had drenched in Basilisk Venom, although he had a real idea about why and what the diary contained. From the look on Dumbledore’s face, the old man had known something, too. His suspicioins hadn't been confrimed, though.

He was sitting in front of his fireplace with a firewhiskey in his hand, staring into the flames and connecting the dots. If he guessed right, the diary had been a Horcrux and Pomona, as a Herbologist with a partial degree in Spell breaking, knew what would unravel such a strong spell. If the soul shard inside that Horcrux had been powerful enough, it would have been able to actually communicate with her. Like the previous owner of his estate had been communicating with the soul-shard inside his late wife’s locket.

He shook his head when he remembered that Pomona Sprout had been a teacher at this school when Tom Riddle had been a student. She should have recognized the name. He stood up, put his glass down and went over to the mantle to grab some Floo Powder. It was time to pay Pomona a visit.

He threw the Floo-Powder into the flames and called out “Infirmary!” before stepping through the flames into the empty office of Poppy. He walked through to the patient area. There Poppy was standing next to Pomona’s bed and checking her over.

“Good evening, Poppy. Has she improved?” he asked, seeing that Pomona had her eyes open and was staring at the ceiling.

“Well, she can hear us and respond, it is just her body that is still paralyzed. She will be fine by morning, though. It was just a smaller backlash of the magic.”

“How can you be so sure?” he asked the Medi-Witch while stepping closer to the cot.

“Severus, I am a certified Medi-Witch, I know a few spells. There is nothing seriously wrong with her. Are you here to check on her or just stand around?”

“Actually, I wanted to look into her thoughts and see what happened tonight.” He answered, stepping closer and looking down at Pomona. She was staring at him angrily without blinking.

“But I guess she does not agree, judging from the look in her eyes.” He continued. A sardonic smile graced his lips when she blinked in relief.

“I could have told you as much. The Headmaster already came in and did the same earlier. And he wasn’t gentle. I would rather she rest right now. Come morning she will be fine again. Although, Albus did ask me about Ms. Granger, if she had been in recently.” Poppy said while opening a vial of Dreamless Sleep.

He felt his body freeze and his breath get stuck in his chest. He looked down at Pomona again, who was staring up at him with a look of sadness. That moment he knew for certain that it had been her and she had tried to resurrect the Dark Lord.

Severus felt his body heat up and a flush spread out on his face. The murderous rage that boiled up in his blood made him take a step towards the cot of his colleague. Only the frightened whimper and Poppy calling his name repeatedly made him come out of the red haze that had stolen over his vision. He had remembered Hermione’s tears and her despair, all because Pomona wanted to play with dark magic. She had been willing to destroy another woman’s life for her own gain. The woman he was developing feelings for.

“Very well, then. If the Headmaster knows everything, then there is no need for me to snoop around in her head. And get well soon, Pomona. You and I have a lot to talk about. Good night to you.”

He turned around and stalked out of the infirmary, trying to get the rest of the rage that was lingering out by walking back to his rooms. He had to actively fight the desire to seek out Hermione and break the rule they had put up for themselves to engage with each other at Hogwarts. He desperately wanted to feel her, to touch her and to hold her in his arms. His feelings were spiraling.

It was something he had seen in every dark wizard he had ever met. The obsession, the possessiveness, the irrational desire to see what they wanted the most put away where no one else could ever touch it or hurt it. It was something different for every witch or wizard. For Lucius it was his collection of dark and very dangerous wands, for him it was women. When he fixated on one, he couldn’t shake her. And now he had fixated on Hermione. Sometimes it was hard to figure out if he truly loved those women or not. There had been many, the one that had always drawn him back, though, had been Lily Potter. Now, he was so fixated on Hermione he had all but forgotten Lily.

He sighed heavily as he turned the corner to the stairs that led down to the dungeons. It would not do to dwell too much on this. Facing his demons usually put him in a dark place and there was no way he would let his mood carry him there. For now, he had a sexy witch in his life and he would enjoy it and do his best to keep her there.
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Snape's Apprentices