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Dark Gods In The Blood	By : Hayseed Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 3951 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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A/N: As appeappens
to work out (because, as I�ve said before, the story is done, not a WIP), this
chapter has Snape in it, just like a handful of my reviewers requested. And I�m fairly certain that at least every
other chapter from here on out has him in it.
I tend to think of this chunk of the story as the �home stretch,� you
see. Thanks for reading!

Summary: A wandering
student comes home, a broken man pays his penance, and a gruesome murder is
both more and less than it seems. Some
paths to self-discovery have more twists and turns than others.

Rating: R, for
intermittent dark themes, violence, and language

Disclaimer: Nothing
you read here (save the plot and bits of the text itself) belongs to me. Harry Potter and his cronies are the
property of JK Rowling and Warner Bros. (and someone else, probably, but not
me). All chapter headings are properly
credited to their sources.

Dark Gods in the Blood

by: Hayseed (hayseed_42@hotmail.com)

Chapter Twenty-One

What
made this emotion so overpowering was -- how shall I

define it? -- the moral shock I received, as
if something

altogether
monstrous, intolerable to thought and odious to

the soul,
had been thrust upon me unexpectedly.

-- Joseph Conrad,
Heart of Darkness

Snape was being
recalcitrant todspanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Well ... more
recalcitrant than usual.

Today, Hermione had approached
the visitation room far more purposefully than ever before, knowing exactly why
she was here and exactly what she wanted to speak with him about. So when she walked in, sat down, offered him
her best smile, and said, �Good morning, sir,� as warmly as she could, she was
chagrined when he did not so much as flutter an eyelid.

And now he was fairly
glowering at her. She was, of course,
far from unfamiliar with that particular expression of his, but she usually
knew the reason for it.

They sat in silence for a
short while, but Hermione was unwilling to revisit the staring matches they�d
had when she first began visiting him.
So it was not long after she entered the room that she finally attempted
to provoke his response. �May I ask,
sir, what I have done to offend you?� she asked icily.

�You may,� he said
curtly, sitting as rigidly as if he�d been carved from stone. A hand fiddled with the sleeve of his shirt. �And today is Friday. If you are to bother me incessantly, I would
trouble you to adhere to a schedule at least.�

sir sir, I missed you,
too,� she said sweetly, unable to resist herself. As it was Snape, after
all, she did manage to keep from actually fluttering her eyelashes up at him.

�I ... you ...� he
spluttered, clearly enraged beyond words.
The blush deepened to a definite flush.
�Granger, you --� His chair
clattered as he stood.

Not willing to allow him
to loom over her, Hermione also rose to her feet, placing her palms flat on the
tabletop. �I had a couple of questions
for you today, if you don�t mind,� she said mildly.

His face twisted. �You stupid, arrogant, little --� Clenching into fists, his hands did not seem
to know what to do with themselves as they moved from his sides, up into the
air, and back down to his hips repeatedly.

�Yes?�

�Do not assume that I
take myself so seriously that I cannot easily discern your sarcasm, Granger, but
do not suppose that your pitiful attempt at levity has been successful,
either,� he bit out, hands finally relaxing.

�Of course not,� she
demurred, highly amused by the level of his distress. She wondered when had been the last time someone else had tried
to tease him.

His stance became less
defensive, but he remained on his feet.

�I was wondering,� she
began, timidity somehow creeping into her voice. �I was wondering about something we discussed some weeks
ago. When I told you about ... Harry�s
...�

�Yes, yes,� he
interrupted impatiently, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. �Potter�s untimely demise at the hands of
parties unknown. What of it?�

Frowning, she folded her
arms around her middle, dimly wishing that Snape would dow down so she could as
well. �Well, Ron -- Ron Weasley, you
know --�

He rolled his eyes. �Sure. Anyway ... I�ve
got to get back to work. Are you coming
over to the house for supper?�

�I doubt it,� she
replied, shaking her head. �I�ve got some
reading to catch up on.�

He narrowed his eyes at
her expression. �Hermione, you really
should leave it alone. I know you
won�t, but I wish you would.�

�Ron ...�

�I know, I know,� he
said, flapping a hand at her. �I�ll
stop, Butterfly. Merlin knows I�ve
never managed to keep you from doing anything you really wanted to before. Just ...�

Her voice was firm. �I won�t, Ron. But I need to keep looking into this.�

She watched him walk down
the street, back to the Ministry, with understanding in her eyes. Certainly Ron only had what he thought were
her best interests at heart, but he had forgotten. It had never been anything but a matter of necessity.

Snape had once spoken to
her about the nature of need. About the
word�s overuse, how most people used it in contexts that barely made
sense.

But Hermione knew about
need. She had spent large parts of her
adult life finding just what it was that she needed and what she didn�t. And so she knew, just as she knew that one and one made two and that
the sky was blue, that she needed to
know what had happened to Harry Potter.

And what had happened to
Alistair Bones.

And what had happened to
Alisander Weaver.

She sat at the table in
front of the caf� an indeterminate period of time, ignoring the chill in the
air that made her wish for her cloak -- October had firmly arrived. The busboy asked her three times if he could
clean the table, and the fourth time he came over with a questioning look on his
face, she actually left, walking down the street slowly.

Diagon Alley was not far,
and she stepped behind the Leaky Cauldron and began tapping flagstones without
much thought, automatically re-entering the wizarding world and moving through
the crowd, among the indistinguishable faces.
But Hermione�s mind was far too busy to pay attention to her
surroundings -- she was puzzling over everything that she currently knew about
Harry�s death.

Firstly, she had to do
some research on serial killers. She
couldn�t convince the Ministry based on a mere hunch -- especially without any
credibility of aind.ind. And
unfortunately, Ron was correct -- she was not an expert; she wasn�t even a
professional.

And she had to somehow
get access to the Aurors� files -- Ron did not appear as if he would be particularly
forthcoming any .

There was an Apparition
point a few yards away. For a brief
moment, Hermione considered ducking into the Leaky Cauldron and using their
Floo connection -- she was distracted enough to splinch -- but in the end, she just
jerked her mind back to the matter at hand and Apparated.
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Dark Gods In The Blood