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A Drop in the Ocean	By : AndreaLorraine Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 3498 -:- 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
- 6
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She
sat in Severus�s seat at dinner, between Flitwick and Sinistra towards the
end of the table.� Severus was still
confined to his bed under orders of the �Infirmary Nazi�, as he was fond of
calling Madame Pomfrey.� He�d seemed fine, but she knew him too well to
miss how he cleverly deflected all her questions and didn�t give her a single
answer that she wanted.� She thought
about a truth serum, but no�there were, and would
always be, some things about her brother that she really didn�t want to know.

�� What�s the matter, Selena?�

�� She jumped, not expecting the hand that settled on her
elbow.

�� Oh, Professor McGonagall, you startled me.� Nothing�s the matter, I�m fine.�

�� You haven�t touched your food, and poor Professor Flitwick has been trying to talk to you.�

�� He has?� Oh no, he
must think me terribly rude now.�

�� He only thinks you terribly distracted,� the elder witch
said, winking.

�� Well, it�s just that being here brings back so many
memories, is all,� Selena admitted, poking at her food.� �I spoke to Sir Cadogan.� He�s angry with me for calling him a coward
because he let Sirius Black into Gryffindor Tower.�

�� McGonagall rolled her eyes and snorted.

�� I�m sure he�ll get over it.�

�� Selena chuckled, and momentarily forgetting about her
brother renewed her appetite.� She took a
few bites of food and turned back to McGonagall.

�� So how is your Quidditch team
this year?�

�� I suppose you�ve met Harry Potter?�

�� Yes, earlier today.�

�� He is our Seeker.�

�� Oh, is he any good?�

�� We won the cup two years ago.� He�s very talented.�

�� Well,� she chided her former teacher, �you need more
than a Seeker to make a championship Quidditch team.�

�� Not always,� McGonagall said, smiling.� �Have you made any progress with your
predictions?�

�� She shook her head, frowning.� �Most of today was spent just sorting the
ones that have already happened from the ones I have yet to understand.�

�� Well, these things take time, dear, don�t rush.�

�� Yes, you�re right, but I can never shake the feeling
that there are things I could have prevented if I had moved a little bit
faster,� she said, setting her silverware down on the edge of her plate.

�� McGonagall smiled sympathetically and gave her shoulder a
squeeze.

�� Such is the burden of having a gift like yours, Selena.�

�� *�� *�� *�� *�� *�� *

�� Lucius Malfoy let a frustrated sigh escape his lungs as
he heard the tell-tale pinging of glass that indicated an owl for him.� It was late, and he was busy, and who the
hell was sending him an owl?� He was sure
whatever message the bird carried would be meaningless and that, of course,
would just annoy him more.

�� But he got up to let the owl in, anyway.� He recognized the mottled gray owl right away
and rolled his eyes.� This was the owl
Draco always used.� He was tempted to
just throw the small piece of parchment away or shove it in a drawer somewhere,
but he supposed whatever Draco had to say might lower his blood pressure for a
few minutes and allow him to relax.

�� He sat and put his feet up, heedless of the papers that
now had dirt and bits of grass on them.�
He unrolled the parchment and skimmed his son�s sloping handwriting.

�� Father,

�� Not much is happening right now.� We are preparing for our first Quidditch match of the year against Ravenclaw,
which, of course, we will win.� Well, when
I first started at Hogwarts, you told me to tell you of anything unusual that
happens.� There are definitely a few
things that happened this week that you should know.� The other night, during the feast, a woman
was attacked by Dementors.� They chased them off and it appears that she
is staying � they gave her a room and she�s been taking over Divination class
once a week.� We haven�t been told
anything other than that her name is Selena and she�s Professor Snape�s sister.� One
more thing that may or may not be related � the day after she came, all Potions
classes were cancelled.� Prof. Snape was
in the infirmary for about two days, no one knows why.� They said it was because one of that stupid
gamekeeper�s creatures got loose, but I don�t believe it.� I think Prof. Snape is more than capable of
defending himself against those beasts.�
He hasn�t said anything about it, and I�m not about to ask, because he�s
even been acting snappy towards some Slytherins of
late.� Not me, of course.� I�m sure you�ll have an answer for me.� Hope all is well.

�� ~Draco

�� Lucius did not recover from his shock until he felt his
chair tipping over.� He caught himself
just in time, kicking papers everywhere in the process.� Graceful, Malfoy.� Highly elegant, he thought to himself,
tossing the rest of his papers off the desk just for good measure.� Well, who gave a damn.� It was the second time in as many weeks that
his desk got a spontaneous clearing.

�� So Karkaroff had been telling the truth, at least about
Selena.� She was at Hogwarts.� And if that part had been true�what of the
other things the man had said?

�� He knew why Severus had been pent up in the infirmary for
two days; he had been there, heard his fellow Death Eater scream and seen him
squirm and claw at his own skin under the effects of the Cruciatus.� He had been mildly worried that Severus would
not survive.� But that was a foolish
notion; the Potions Master was much tougher than anyone gave him credit for.� The question was�

�� Did he have the strength to infiltrate and act for the
Darkness in order to aid the Light?

�� Lucius found that he could not come to a satisfactory
answer.� He had known Severus Snape for
over twenty years, even considered him his best friend for a good part of
that.� And yet�he knew nothing about him,
nothing that was inside.� He had never
been told a secret, never cracked the deepest layer of shielding that Severus
erected around himself.� No, the real
Severus was reserved for a scant few people, and of those people, only one
remained.

�� Selena.

�� All roads led back to that infernal woman.

�� It was time for a long-overdue chat.� Of course she�d never agree to it
willingly.� He�d have to use some
coercion.

�� He pulled out a fresh piece of parchment and wrote a very
simple reply to Draco�s letter.

�� Son,

�� Good work and I will see you soon.

�� *�� *�� *�� *�� *�� *

�� Third year, after
the Quidditch Cup:

�Sue!� I�m so glad you came, I�m so bored in here!�
Selena exclaimed, sitting up a bit higher in her bed.

�� Yeah, well, I had to check on my favorite teammate,� the
tall, tanned sixth year said, grinning.�
She poked Selena lightly in the forehead.� �Everything OK up there?�

�� Mostly.�

�� Good. You gave us a bit of a scare!� �Oh,
and I also have to give you this � Ludo sent it.�

�� Sue procured a massive pot of flowers from behind her
back.� They were a mix of poppies, roses,
and carnations, all of them enchanted to form a confetti-like burst of fauna.

�� Wow!� Selena said, leaning forward to sniff the mix of
fragrances.� �Who would�ve thought Ludo was good at arranging flowers.�

�� Ha!� Sue said, chuckling.� �He probably had someone do it for him.� Can you imagine how masculine he�d get if he
heard you insinuating that he�s a florist?�

�� I hope, for his sake, that he�s good at something
besides Quidditch because, well��

�� He�s not the most intelligent fellow,� Sue finished for
her.� They shared a laugh and Sue set the
flowers on the table next to her bed, which was already somewhat crowded with
trinkets that other visitors had brought her.

�� So how are classes?� Selena asked.

�� I got double detention for all of next week.�

�� What?� Why?!�

�� Because I kicked the shit out of
Herschel Sovern.�

�� Sue!� What did the
Headmaster say?�

�� That two wrongs don�t make a
right.�

�� Ha!� Speaking of,
how�s Chester?�

�� Oh, he�s fine.� Really happy that everyone is glaring daggers at the Slytherin team.�

�� Hey Sue�� Selena started, and then stopped, frowning.

�� What?� her companion demanded.

�� Selena gestured for her to lean in, and Sue did so
immediately, so fast that they almost bumped heads.

�� Oops!� she whispered, grinning.� �You don�t need any more knocks on the head.�

�� No, I don�t.� Hey,
Sue, listen.� When you were taking the
penalty shots in the game��

�� Yeah�?�

�� Malfoy kissed me.�

�� What?!� Sue practically
screamed, clamping a hand over her mouth and resuming her whisper when she
heard her voice echo off the stone ceiling.�
�In the middle of the field?!�

�� Yes.� I don�t know
if anyone saw but he grabbed my braid and just pulled me into it!�

�� What a�Well what do you think it meant?� Was it a scare tactic or do you think it was
genuine?�

�� Don�t know.� It
was hard to tell with his tongue down my throat.��

�� Eww.� Scare tactic, or
some really retarded version of flirting.�

�� I don�t know.� But
I wanted to know�was it him?�

�� Huh?�

�� That caught me.�
Was it Malfoy?�

�� Yes, but only after your brother yelled at him,� Sue
replied, making a face.� �It dislocated
his shoulder but he was out of here before you even woke up.�

�� I don�t understand him, Sue.� He�s so damned belittling, but then he�ll
always do something to redeem himself.�

�� Hm.� I�m starting to think he likes you.�

�� You think?�

�� Well, all the signs are there.� I�m surprised, I
would think a Malfoy wouldn�t be so stupid with all this, what with their floofy pureblood crap.�

�� His name means nothing, Sue.� When you get right down to it, he�s just a
guy.�

�� Well, I�ll do a little spying for you.� Perhaps I can�persuade�Mr. Sovern to help me a bit.�

�� Selena laughed, reaching forward to hug Sue.

�� You�re the best.�

�� I know.� And hey,
if he comes in here to visit you, make sure someone�s with you.� I don�t trust him.�

�� Neither do I.�

�� Sue sat up, resuming normal volume now that the
scandalous issues were out of the way.

�� Ludo said he might floo by if he has time later tonight.��

�� Oh no�then he�ll want to talk about the game for ten
hours.�

�� Well, you know him.�
He�ll probably forget.�

�� I hope so.�

�� Sue smiled and stood, rubbing her hands together.

�� I have to go have a little chat with the
Headmaster.� He wants to talk to me
without Sovern there crying like a newborn.�

�� Have fun,� Selena said, yawning and slipping under her
blankets.� �Eat a lemon drop for me.�

�� I will.� Get some
sleep.�

�� Selena curled up on her side, intent on doing exactly
what Sue had said.� She was just
beginning to drift off when the sound of breathing and the slight rustle of
robes caused her eyes to flutter open.

�� Remus!� she said.

�� He jumped at the sound of her voice.� He had been trying to place something very
quietly on the cluttered table.

�� Sorry!� I didn�t
mean to wake you, I just wanted to---�

�� You didn�t wake me, I hadn�t fallen asleep yet.�

�� Oh.� Well, I just
wanted to come by and see how you�re feeling.�
I miss you in Divination.� It�s
more boring than usual.�

�� I would imagine.�
Severus told me Trelawney has been going on and on about how she foresaw
my injuries.�

�� Lupin nodded, smiling ruefully.� �You played an awesome game.�

�� Thank you,� she said, grinning.� Remus was always so nice�he knew exactly how
to make a person feel special.� He
hesitated, though, before his next statement.

�� That was really low, what Malfoy did,� he said at last.

�� What, pulling my hair?�
Yeah, I wasn�t too pleased.�

�� Well, that and�during the penalty shots��

�� Selena�s eyes widened.�
�You saw!?�

�� Yeah.� I was looking around for where the Snitch had
gone and saw him lean in.� I knew you
would never��

�� I know.� I really
can�t believe he did that.� I don�t
understand.�

�� Has he done things like that before?� Lupin asked, his
brow creasing with worry.

�� Never that directly.� He says things, sometimes.� He�s very touchy-feely�� she said slowly,
pondering his question.� �Come to think
of it, he never passes up an opportunity to touch me.� It might just be how he is��

�� But it sounded lame even to her.

�� He�s�not the good type.�
I know you�re friends with him and all, but I don�t like him,� Remus
said, shaking his head.� The grave and
concerned look on his face didn�t waver at all.

�� Of course you don�t like him, he�s a Slytherin,�
she said, smiling.

�� No.� It�s not just
that.� He�s�well, forget it, who am I to
tell you who to hang around with?�

�� I value your opinion and your advice, Remus,� she
assured him.� �I�m not really sure if I
like him, anyway.� He makes no sense.�

�� Lupin sighed, his expression softening a bit.

�� I find that people in general don�t make much sense when
it comes to trying to attract someone�s attention.�

�� Remus,� she said, glancing up to meet his eyes, �do you
really think he likes me?�

�� Sirius acts like that when he�s decided he likes a
certain girl,� Lupin replied, nodding.� �James, too.� Even
Peter tries once in a while.��

�� You�re probably right�I just never thought about
it.� I mean, I figured he�d go for some Slytherin girl.�

�� If it was anyone else he�d be the laughingstock of the
House.� But he�s Malfoy.� He�s the only one that could ever get away
with it.�

�� I�m sure he�d get over his infatuation very quickly if
he ever found out that I�m not a pureblood,� she mused.� Lupin�s eyes went
wide and he suddenly looked like he�d been drenched with a bucket of ice water.

�� You�re not a pureblood?�

�� For a moment, she looked horrified.� Her eyes darted to him and then fixed on her
hands, which were twining nervously in her lap.

�� I didn�t mean to say that out loud,� she admitted, cringing.� �Things are still a little rattled up here, I
guess,� she added, tapping her forehead.

�� So you and Severus�is it your Mother or your Father?�

�� Mother,� she replied.�
�She�s a Muggle.� Of course no one
thinks she is.� Father made it seem like
she�s a famous witch from the United States.� Everyone
assumes it�s just the good old antisocial Snape attitude that keeps us from
entertaining anyone.�

�� Wow.� Do you know
that makes Severus the only person in Slytherin who�s
not a pureblood?� Lupin asked.

�� I doubt that.� I�m
sure there are others like us.� But you
won�t tell anyone, right?� she asked, looking at him with pleading eyes.� �If Sirius or anyone ever found out��

�� It�ll be our secret,� he said, smiling and absently
taking her hand between his. �

�� For a person as delicate-looking as he was, he had large
hands.� Long, graceful fingers, a warm,
healthy grip�but his skin was rough.� Dry
and lined as if he�d been doing farm work or some other hard labor all his
life.� A strange thought wormed its way
into her head.� What would those hands
feel like against her skin?

�� What�s wrong?� he asked, noticing the odd expression
that crept across her face.

�� I�� she began, but she never finished.� Something dropped over her vision.� She could still see Remus, but it felt like
she was viewing him through a layer of water or a stained-glass window.� The sensation that the Sorting Hat had given
to her three years ago returned full force, impaling her mind and bursting
behind her eyelids like a snowball exploding once it met its target.� Fragments of a thousand different sentences
floated through her brain, a nonsensical cacophony that made her clap her hands
over her ears.� Of course, it was to no
avail since the voices weren�t actually coming from around her � they were
inside her head.

�� Remus felt panic rise in his chest as she squeezed her
eyes shut and wrenched her hand away from him.�
She twisted in the bed, pressing her palms tightly over her ears.� And then she whimpered,
a strangely helpless and animalistic sound.�
He understood that better than anything else.

�� He stood hurriedly, so quickly that he accidentally
knocked over a few of the things on her table.�

�� Madame Pomfrey!� he called,
dashing out of the cubicle.� The mediwitch was nowhere to be found.� God, where was the woman?!� She almost never left the Infirmary�

�� The insistent rumble of his stomach reminded him that it
was lunchtime.� She must be at
lunch!� The school nurse had to eat, just
like everyone else, and Selena had seemed fine up until a minute ago.

�� He checked on her quickly.� She was curled on her side, the blankets
tangled around her legs.� Her hands still
covered her ears and she writhed as if something horrible was being done to
her.� She was in pain.

�� That sparked something in him, and even though he was
still weak and achy from transforming just two nights ago, he took off down the
corridor at full speed.

�� Madame Pomfrey�s lunch would
have to wait.

�� *�� *�� *�� *�� *�� *��

�� Harry narrowly avoided having his
fingers crushed as Hermione unceremoniously dumped another heavy book onto his
desk.

�� You�ve got to stop doing that,� he
said, giving her a slight glare.� �One of
these days I�m going to lose a hand.�

�� Feh,� she
replied, shrugging.� �It keeps your Quidditch reflexes sharp.�

�� Either that, or it�ll ruin my
career,� he conceded with a roll of his eyes.�
�So what�s this about?�

�� Well, I�ve been looking at the
yearbooks in my spare time.� And,� she
said, turning the pages excitedly, �first of all, take a look at that.�

�� Harry leaned over to stare at the
picture she was pointing to.� It took up
about a quarter of the page, and it was only two people.� It was enchanted so that every now and then,
one would lean to the other and kiss them on the
cheek.� The girl was definitely Selena, a
few years older than the last yearbook picture they�d seen.� Older, more developed�voluptuous.� The way she looked now, except a lot more
na�ve.� He frowned to himself and read
the caption underneath the picture.

�� Most Unexpected Couple�,� he read
out loud.� �They do superlatives in these
yearbooks?�

�� Apparently,� Hermione nodded.� �But look at the guy.�

�� I don�t recognize him,� he
shrugged.

�� Look closer.� Does he remind you of anyone?�

�� Harry squinted at the picture.� The man in it didn�t look much older than
Selena.� As he watched, he turned his
head to plant a kiss on Selena�s cheek.�
It actually turned into a bit of a bite, his teeth flashing and scraping
along her skin.� This made her blush and
laugh at the same time, at which point she pushed him away and they resumed
their glittering smiles.� Come to think
of it, there was something eerily familiar about the eyes and the shape of the
face�

�� Malfoy!� he exclaimed, nearly
dropping the book.

�� Yes.� Lucius Malfoy.�

�� Whoa!� She wasn�t a Slytherin,
I can�t believe that!�

�� What did she ever see in him?�
Hermione wondered.

�� I have no idea, because he�s a
terrible git.�

�� I know.�

�� So they were a couple?� What a waste,� Harry said, wrinkling his
nose.� �For her, I mean.� She could do so much better.�

�� I agree,� Hermione said,
nodding.� �This was their sixth
year.� Now seventh year�it gets even more
interesting.�

�� She pulled one book away from him
and set another down.� It was open to the
Ravenclaw seventh years.� To Harry�s great surprise, the spot between
Hannah Sherman and Michael Tanner was empty.�
More specifically, it wasn�t there at all.

�� Hey,� he said, looking
confused.� �Where�s Selena?�

�� Exactly,� Hermione said.� �She never graduated.� She�s nowhere in this yearbook.� Everyone else that should be there is there �
Snape, Sirius, your Father, Wormtail, Malfoy�everyone
except Lupin.�

�� Lupin�s
not in there?!�

�� Nope.� Apparently he didn�t make it to graduation,
either.�

�� So the question is��

�� Why didn�t two of the best students
in Hogwarts history ever graduate?�
- 6
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A Drop in the Ocean