Potions and Snitches
Snape and Harry Gen Fanfiction Archive

Ch 2: The Leaving of the Asps

Never before had she felt so… so out of place while in the Gryffindor dorms. Not even when Ron had called her up to the boys’ dorms was she this hesitant, and she’d often gone through the very door she was about to knock on. Of course, she knew why she felt so off… everyone had noticed Hermione’s odd behavior. Hell, even the Grytherin’s dorm mates- the Gryffindor ones, that is, as the term could apply to both as of late… except for this past week or so, had felt it.

Ginny doubted a single person in all of Hogwarts had failed to notice the sudden shift. What it was, exactly, or why it had occurred, however, remained a mystery. Everyone could see the signs, repercussions perhaps, but that was all. Everyone felt subdued somehow, almost as if a rouge Dementor was just close enough to sap a tad of happiness. Or perhaps the castle itself had become somehow sullen…

No one seemed to joke around in class anymore, no pranks or midnight outings. Hell, even talking in the halls was steadily declining! People were skipping class without reason, and after repeated annoyances to the point of ‘I just won’t come’, the Professors themselves stopped asking, only occasionally mumbling something about how such behavior will come back to haunt the students when the OWL’s or NEWT’s come upon them.

Hermione, however, acted most odd of all. From the moment she ran into the Gryffindor Common Room (making everyone present half-expect a hoard of Slytherins oh her tail), she seemed to have broken contact with the slimy snakes. She hardly spoke to anyone at all, and some of the girls claimed she warded her bed with privacy charms each night. The things they had ‘accidentally’ tossed into her (unused) part of the room had been haphazardly dumped onto the floor near the center of the room, forcing the offending girls to sort things out among themselves. It served them right, really.

This morning, however, she’d been twice as off, which was the reason the girls in her year had begged Ginny to go and speak with her. They said Hermione acted ‘sad and detached’, though how that differed from the girl’s recent behavior was beyond the young redhead. Still, she had agreed to go… no use stalling.

“Tell Draco my answer stands!” answered her knock, making the girl question her earlier resolve; Hermione sounded quite ticked at someone. She fought with herself for a moment, but in the end, her Gryffindor courage won out and she knocked once more.
“I said-” Hermione’s face seemed to drain of anger, “oh, it’s you.”

Ginny was going to ask if she honestly thought Dean would be able to climb up here, but stopped herself just in time. Guys couldn’t walk up the girls’ wing… Hermione knew that since before Ginny entered Hogwarts… so… did that mean…

“How many Asps are there in Gryffindor?”

“You’ll find out tomorrow,” was the curt reply, “is there a reason you’re here?”

“Erm…” Tomorrow, what was supposed to happen tomorrow? “We’re kind of worried about you.”

We?” the brunette asked skeptically, “don’t tell me they bullied you into this.”

“I wouldn’t mind knowing what’s going on myself,” Ginny sighed, knowing it was useless to deny who made her come up here.

“What makes you think I know?”

“If anyone knows, you do,” Ginny stated matter-of-factly.

“Ah,” Hermione leaned back against the frame “and what makes you think I’d tell you?”

“You told me other stuff.”

“And that entitles you to ask me anything you damn well please?”

“No,” Ginny answered, suddenly feeling three again and caught with chocolate before dinner, “I just…”

“Couldn’t help but ask,” Hermione finished, “come in.”

Ginny hesitated a moment, but her curiosity propelled her inside. The dorms looked odd, the pile of stuff juxtaposed to the mostly-clean beds, Hermione’s sticking out like a sore thumb.

Silver curtains?”

“I couldn’t sleep with the red anymore… they’d have killed me if I turned them green,” was the shrugged reply.

“Right.”

“So?” Hermione asked. When Ginny simply looked at her, she elaborated, “you wanted to ask me something?”

“Would asking what the hell was going on be too broad a question?”

“Hogwarts is mourning.”

“Mourning?”

“You’ll find out tomorrow.”

“But when Cedric died-”

“Cedric,” Hermione stressed, “was connected to none of the founder lines.”

“And… and whoever died was?”

At Hermione’s nod, Ginny tried to run through the names of whomever she hadn’t seen lately. It must be one of the Asps, surely, though that didn’t help her much. It wasn’t anyone from Gryffindor, she was sure… and whoever it was made Hermione not want to stay in Slytherin… even blow Malfoy off. Malfoy. Almost as soon as she had thought it, she realized Malfoy sent for her -- Malfoy, not Snape. Snape was Alpha though, of that she was certain. Why would the second-in-command…

“Oh Merlin… it’s Snape!”

A sniffle confirmed it, and an array of thought bombarded the young redhead. Snape was an enigma… an unknown, but Malfoy was evil incarnate. He’d changed lately, true, but now that Snape wasn’t there to keep the git in line…

“They didn’t hurt you, did they?”

“Don’t make me slap you, Ginny. I swear if you so much as think that again-”

“What am I supposed to think?” she practically screamed, “Malfoy’s in control!”

“Oh shut it, Gin, he’ll be none of your concern soon enough!”

“What?”

“You’ll see tomorrow. Don’t miss breakfast,” was her only explanation. “Leave, Gin, now. And Merlin help you if you babble this to anyone.”


‘She’ll be fine’, ‘you’ll see tomorrow’, ‘don’t miss breakfast’, and ‘just give her some space’ was basically all Ginny had said before walking back up to her own dorm and falling onto her bed in thought. This could be bad. She searched her brain for everything she knew about Voldemort’s Aspidis, about Hermione’s relations with them, about Snape and Malfoy.

Not wishing to be overly harsh on the dead, as Slytherin as he may have been, Ginny begrudgingly agreed Horatius Snape was not that evil a bastard… for a Slytherin. At least he seemed tolerant of half-bloods and Muggleborns… letting Hermione in and all. Malfoy, on the other hand, had his ugly pureblood mug in the dictionary… under ‘J’ for jerk and had just lost being found under ‘E’ for evil due to You-Know-Who’s face taking up the whole damn page. She figured the only reason he had tolerated Hermione was to remain on Snape’s good side. She gave him two weeks before the ‘old’ Malfoy returned full force now that he was back at the top of the proverbial food chain... at most.

Did Hermione realize this too? Was that why she wouldn’t go back to the Slytherin dorms? She had been mad when Ginny suggested as much, of course, but believing something and hearing someone say so were two very different things.

“Damn.” Looking over to the clock, Ginny begrudgingly realized her ponderings had left her unable to fall asleep the entire night… and as tired as she was, there was no way in hell she would miss breakfast. Apparently, she hadn’t been the only one to get the tip. For a Sunday, the Great Hall was simply overflowing with people… and this was breakfast! Usually, not even a quarter of these people (Ginny included) would have been awake this early. Most (Gryffindors, at least) snuck out to the kitchens at whatever time hunger rolled them out of bed or waited (or hurried not to miss, whichever the case may be) for lunch.

“Morning,” she mumbled, sat herself on the wall side of the table, as to have a good view of the hall and whatever was about to happen. She was disappointed when both Hermione and Dean sat opposite, as it left her no chance to whisper with either.

“Morning, Ginny,” Dean greeted as he sat, pulling a weak smile to which she replied in turn. Oddly, he only greeted Hermione with a sideway hug after sitting on the bench.

“I do hope he lets you eat first,” she heard Hermione mumble to Dean, “not that I’ll get any peace in which to eat once this is over…”

“You’re not turning cynical on us I hope, My Lady…”

“Just tired, Dean, I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”

Dean murmured something too low for Ginny to hear in answer, but from Hermione’s ‘no need, she knows’, he’d probably realized Ginny was listening in.

“In that case,” Dean continued, louder, “I do hope you’ll be able to count on her after all this.”
“We’ll see, Wolf.”

Dean had just opened his mouth to say something more when the Headmaster rose, shushing the hall into a near-perfect silence and directing all eyes onto him with an unnatural ease. A quick glance back toward Hermione and Dean revealed their eyes fixed on the Headmaster as well, wearing forlorn expressions, and Hermione’s hand clenching the boy’s shoulder as if it was her one and only lifeline.

“Students,” Dumbledore began, pulling her attention back onto his risen form, “I fear a great tragedy has befallen one of our number. A little over a week ago, one of the bravest young men I’ve had the pleasure of instructing was killed by Death Eaters. In lieu of this, his father, Professor Snape, has decided to resign and will not be teaching next year. I had hoped to persuade him to at least finish the present term b-”

“I leave tonight, Dumbledore,” the professor in question interrupted, slamming his hands on the table as he stood. Honestly, Ginny couldn’t blame him for leaving, father of an Asp or not.

“We, too, leave tonight,” another voice called from the Slytherin table, before Malfoy slowly stood before the hall, all eyes turning to him now.

“Are you certain, young Draco?” the Headmaster asked, sounding suspiciously aware of what was occurring… as if he knew this was going to happen long ago. “Nothing will sway your choice?”

The blonde snorted, “You damn well know we wouldn’t have stayed.”

“And did they decide this, Draco, or you?”

“You told me Horris told you about us Asps, Dumbledore,” Malfoy insisted, the entire hall freezing at his casual address, most now watching the blond with wands at the ready beneath the tabletops.

“Then you should know,” he continued upon receiving the Headmaster’s nod, “that we are loyal to Horris and him alone. Not the Ministry, not your Order, and certainly not our Alpha’s murderer. To Horris, we swore obedience; the others have little obligation to follow me.”

“We follow gladly,” Dean answered, standing as well. Every Gryffindor near him (with the exception of Hermione and Ginny) gasped and scooted as far away as they could only subsiding when similar reactions issued from the Ravenclaw and (to Ginny’s amazement) Hufflepuff tables. Students were standing up at all four tables just as Dean had, declaring themselves Asps before their friends and teachers.

Ginny nearly fainted when she recognized the faces of some of the Asps, hardly able to comprehend they’d been bred to be Voldemort’s soldiers. The friends of some were worse off than Ginny, only Slytherins taking it all in stride (some even congratulating their fellows). A few Ravenclaws were even scolding one of those standing for kidding around at a time like this, trying to get their friend to sit the hell back down. None of those standing were joking though, Ginny could tell… mostly because of Hermione.

The brunette who had gotten so close to these dangerous individuals, these trained killers, was catching each one’s eye with a knowing expression on her face, encouraging each with a slight nod of acknowledgement and approval. The Great Hall was in a total uproar of denials, and she was just silently smiling… sipping her pumpkin juice from time to time.

A hush fell the moment Malfoy moved, heading towards the Gryffindor table (to Ginny’s utter dread).

“I take it your decision stands?” he asked, stepping right up to Hermione. Only then did the girl stand, nodding.

“I told you it would,” she answered simply… and what happened next left even the teachers speechless. Ginny had a front-row seat, literally, and she still could hardly believe it.

Draco I-Take-Shit-From-No-One Malfoy bowed before a Muggleborn with all the grace one could expect of a Malfoy heir, embraced her, finally pulling away to formally kiss her hand.

“Be safe, My Lady,” he voiced and stood back, as if he had done nothing more than shake her hand goodbye.

“I’ll see you at the funeral, Dragon.”

With that, he walked out of the hall, and Ginny watched as each and every Asp waited their turn to do the same (though they remained silent, and only a few others actually hugged her, with Hermione only acknowledging the act with a calm smile and a… a nickname, Ginny guessed; always an animal of some kind. She did tell Dean (Wolf, she called him) to ‘take care of him for her’, but beyond that her responses stayed the same.

Ginny wondered how Hermione could have acted so calm about it all, not allowing herself to consider these… these Asps had always treated her as such. But her conversation with Dean, though seemingly so long ago, flashed in her mind and threw the redhead out of her denial. He had said they all saw her as a person deserving their obedience and protection. But…but even Malfoy (was he ‘Alpha’ now?) bowed before her!

A gasp stopped that train of thought as effectively as a brick wall on the tracks. There was Hermione, being hugged by Professor Snape of all people. Well… at least he didn’t bow… now that would have been a shock that would have killed her!

“Until the funeral, Miss Granger.”

The girl, having slowly declined to the point of tears, nodded silently, hugging the man one last time before following him out with her eyes.

Everyone, teachers included, seemed to stare at the closed door, slowly turning back to the still-standing Hermione. She, in turn, wiped away her tears and sat down with a forced calm. She ate a few extra bites with her head so high Ginny guessed she could barely see the plate, and excused herself (before the shock would diffuse to leave enquiring mobs) as if nothing at all had occurred that morning.

Ginny sprinted after her as soon as the doors had shut once more.

“What the- Ginny!”

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?”

“Gryffindor Tower.”

“Oh.”

“Look, Ginny, was there something you wanted, or do you just want to be sure I didn’t leave with the Asps?”

“I…” she wasn’t certain this was the best time to ask this. Actually, she was quite sure it was quite the opposite. “I wanted to ask you some stuff.”

“Something along the lines of ‘what the hell just happened’?”

Ginny could only nod.

“You’ll help me pack, I’ll explain.”

“Pack!” she practically cried out, “I thought-”

“Do you honestly expect me to stay in the Gryffindor dorms after that little stunt?”

“Um…”

“Draco left me his room.”

“Oh.”

“I hope to be out before the crowds come and I have to explain everything a hundred times over.”

She gave the password to enter their dorms to the Fat Lady, “and before you ask, no, I didn’t pack last night. I was helping Harpie… erm, Angelina.”

“What are these, anyway? The animal thingies?”

“They’re Asp names. Voldemort picked them… they turned them more into nicknames than anything else. Quite a slap in the face, actually.”

“Wait, they defy You-Know-Who that openly?”

“Gin, he just killed Horris. Of course they’ll defy him!”

“I meant before… before Snape-”

“Only when He couldn’t catch them. His inability to separate their acts of defiance from servitude only proved how over-confidant he was.”

“Are you sure they won’t mind you telling me all this?”

“Dragon babbled most of it anyway,” she shrugged. “Now that they’ve openly defied Him, it doesn’t matter as much. Besides, I know what not to tell.”

“Oh.” Ginny looked around uncertainly, “is this it?”

“My books are still down in Slytherin, so yes,” she paused by the door, “are you coming?”

“To the dungeons?”

“You have been to the dorms before,” she noted, as if it was obvious.

“Will they let me in? I mean, last time-”

“Let me worry about what they will or will not let you do.”

Ginny walked a step behind Hermione in silence, drawing closer to her as they entered the common room. Oddly, of all the Slytherins there, not one questioned Ginny’s presence. They all just put on weak smiles for the brunette, welcomed her back, and turned back to their studies.

“This is…”

“Bare, I know. I hadn’t thought Draco was going to take so much… Guess I’m too used to his decorations.”

Ginny, to whom ‘bare’ was far from the first thing that came to mind, looked around the large room.

There was less stuff than she’d seen in Snape’s room (the one time she’d been in it), but it still had the furniture and decorations the school provided. Hermione’s books already filled several of the bookshelves near the desk, and an all-too-familiar mirror stood off to the side.

“Do all Slytherin rooms come with this?”

“Oh, the Professor moved that from Horris’ room. It’s a two-way portal to Snape Manor… don’t tell anyone.”

“So they can come in here anytime they want?” Ginny demanded, remembering how Malfoy ‘appeared’ last time scaring the living daylights out of her.

“It’s more for me to go there than vice versa, but yes, they can.”

“You okay with that?”

“They did ask if I’d rather it was here or in Horris’ room,” she assured Ginny, not needing to explain her choice… Ginny didn’t want to go back to Snape’s room either, and they hadn’t even been close. “It’s how I’m getting to the funeral, at any rate.”

Ginny continued to ask things while helping Hermione unpack (as you couldn’t use magic to unpack before a place of precedent was set), being hushed anytime she struck slightly too close to home.

On the redhead’s way out, Hermione told her to wait a minute, and walked off to speak with some seventh-year Ginny only half-recalled.

“You have their permission to come here anytime I’m in. Just knock on the chipped brick. If I’m not in, and you really need to see me, tell them and they should let you wait in the common room. I take it you not abusing the privilege to play pranks is a given?”

“Uh… of course,” she quickly assured, practically speechless. Did Hermione rule Slytherin now? What was the world coming to?


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