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Soul Searching	By : Quillusion Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 9767 -:- 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.

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Soul Searching

by Quillusion

2002-2003

Anti-Litigation Charm: Not mine, alas. But Ms. Rowling does so well with them, I can't really bring myself to mind, as long as I am permitted these not-for-profit paper daydreams. No copyright infringement or disrespect is intended. This disclaimer applies to all chapters of the following fan-fictional work, whether explicitly stated or not. There are several original elements in this story, including plot, dialogue, and various concepts and contraptions, which are easily identified by their absence from the canon novels; if anyone wishes to borrow these ideas, please email the author at quillusion@yahoo.com and it's almost a sure thing I'll give you permission.

Rating: I detest the use of film ratings for the categorization of written works. This story will contain descriptions of intimacy between consenting adults, as well as some moderate violence- nothing beyond what you can find in Barnes and Noble on either count, however.

Summary: Hermione embarks on a small but noble cause, and unexpectedly has her views on magic, her Potions teacher, and her world broadened in more ways than she can count. Guest starring the members and stories of WIKTT, along with a few others. No henges were involved in the making of this fic. May contain a few spoilers through Book 4.

Author's Note 7/8/03: Hello everyone! This is a repost of the original story in its entirety as written from May 2002 through its completion in the summer of 2003. I'd like to thank everyone for bearing with me through several site moves; I will also be starting up my own site soon to host all my fics. I would also like to thank everyone who wrote to encourage and assist me throughout the writing process, and for everyone who shared their enjoyment of the story in the early days and up to the present! Also thanks to the White Knight, my pseudo-beta, and the members of WIKTT whose stories are referenced in this work. If anyone found a few good stories by reading this one, and emailed those authors to enthuse, then I per perhaps repaid some small debt I owe to the wonderful writers who first interested me in this pairing.

I should warn you all: I do not write from an outline. I sit down and start writing and everything unfolds as it will, and I learn what will happen next as the letters march out across the page. Sometimes I stop and read what I just wrote and say aloud, "WHAT?!" There is probably a medication for this, but I don't much feel like giving up the amusement I provide myself by doing this. I rarely have any idea how things will go until I start each chapter, and while this is fun, it does occasionally lead to twists and surprises I cannot anticipate. Hence, this story started out to be a little three-chapter lemony romp centering around a surprise event that changes how Hermione views Professor Snape, and the beginning reflects that humble origin. But because of the way I write, Hermione and I watched together as things twisted and mushroomed into something that is bigger than either of us could ever have imagined in the first few paragraphs. And this nearly novel length- oh, who am I kidding?- this novel length work was born. By the time it was done, the beginning had become tangled up enough with the end that it would have been difficult to change anything to make the start seem more appropos for the finish. However, life works that way, and as art imitates life, I have left the beginning as it was originally written. Perhaps the middle and end will make up for any lack of loftiness you might perceive in the start.

Enjoy, fellow reader, and do let me know what you think!

Quillusion, July 8, 2003

Chapter 1

The dungeons are dark. I don't know why I'm surprised; they're always dark, even at noon on midsummer's day. But they seem darker than usual.

I suppose that's my conscience working on me. I'm down here for reasons far less honorable than is usual for me; noble Gryffindor that I am, I'm here to steal ingredients from Snape's storeroom. Again.

The first time I stole from the Potions Master was for a good cause; this second time is for an even greater one. Molly Weasley has an illness that can only be cured by an obscure potion not offered by mediwitches and wizards, a potion whose origins are more than a little Dark; I'm here to steal the one ingredient in that potion which can't be purchased in Diagon Alley- or even Knockturn Alley.

The human soul.

It's not generally known that the human soul can be extracted in material form, but the fact remains. It requires great concentration, great power, and- of course- great evil to rob someone of that inviolable part of themselves. I am still not certain how Snape came to be in possession of some of it, and I would rather not know. I know his involvement with the Death Eaters has necessitated his participation in some horrific things, but I prefer to keep the knowledge as vague as possible.

I sneak as quietly as possible to the Potions classroom door, more grateful than words can say that Peeves has not found me, nor has Filch. Let alone Snape himself. I glance at the Marauder's Map, on loan from Harry, and am relieved to see no one in the classroom. I will have all the time I need to find the bottle I seek, for it will not be added to the brewing potion for at least a day. But I don't want to risk getting caught just because I dawdled.

The classroom door is not warded, and with a sigh of relief I slip inside. The storeroom is on the far side, and I know from past experience that it's usually only left open during Potions classes.

I also know that I stood next to this door during the last Potions class of the day so that I could hear Professor Snape recall the old wards at the start of class, and cast the new at the end. I know he changes the password daily; if I'm lucky, he hasn't been into the storeroom since, and I will be able to use the password he set at four o'clock today with the ward key pattern he used at three, and the door will unlock.

I hope so, for Molly's sake.

Ron and Ginny had been pale and shaken when they gave us the news; Molly's mediwitch was quite concerned that things had sped up considerably. Molly had an illness known as Starling's Countercurse, and it was a late- appearing complication of one of the charms that had been required to stop Molly's considerable bleeding after Ron's birth, which had been a difficult one. The Starling Charm- named after its creator, in an uninspiredly Muggle fashion- was very good at controlling blood flow and temporarily redirecting it away from damaged areas until reparative charms could be used to correct the damage.

Unfortunately, it was also known to infrequently (and intermittently) reactivate long after its initial casting, causing uncontrolled redirection of blood flow and subsequent damage to whatever organ whose blood supply it interrupted. Molly had had several small strokes as a result, and her memory was beginning to suffer; if this alone were not enough, she was developing several large patches of necrotic skin. In all the years since Ron was born, she had only had one incidence of the reactivation, which had been far from unpleasant as it had reduced one of her periods to a scant six hours. But in the last four months, she had had seven reactivations, each one occurring at a shorter interval than the last. Her mediwitch was very concerned that the accelerating pace of the illness was going to cause failure of something critical, and soon.

Ron, in particular, felt horrible about his mother's illness, because it was his birth that had indirectly brought it on. Nothing anyone- including Molly- could say would assuage his guilt, and I was surprised beyond speech at my acquisition of a new study partner, who spent even more time in the library than I did: Ron Weasley. It had been Ron's research that had produced the information about the Cleve Potion.
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Soul Searching