Of Curses and Mystery

The following morning found Minerva, Albus, Poppy, Hagrid, and Severus no further along in finding out what had happened to Miss Granger.

"It must be some sort of curse, Albus. I spent all night raiding my library but I simply can't find one thing about salamander curses," Severus said, tiredly.

"I'm tellin' yer, thar ain't no such thing!" Hagrid argued, frustrated. "I admit they're a mite touchy, salamanders, but they're right easy to deal with if they don't feel threatened."

"While I doubt Miss Granger threatened the salamander, it's not inconceivable that she happened upon it suddenly and startled it into action. The girl's as gentle as she is intelligent, but she has been rather distracted lately," replied Albus.

"And who's fault is that, Albus?" snapped Minerva. "I told you she'd be disappointed if she wasn't made Head Girl, as well she should be. She was the perfect choice!"

"I thought we'd been over this, Minerva." Albus sighed. "At any other time, Miss Granger would be Head Girl, but I feel she has enough on her plate now she's a member of the Order. Even in these troubled times I'd like the girl to have some semblance of a normal life."

"Not much chance of that now," grumbled Severus, with sneering pragmatism.

"Severus!" barked Minerva.

"Stop it right now." Poppy halted the useless argument with ease. "I'm sure all of this is quite interesting, but it is NOT helping my patient. Nothing I've done has had any effect, nor have the potions that Severus has tried. If this is a curse, then we need to do something about it other than stand here sniping!"

"Hmmm...what about young Bill Weasley? He's still a curse-breaker for Gringott's, is he not? Perhaps he could shed some light on the subject," Albus said. "Severus, why don't you owl him and ask if he knows anything about salamander curses."

"Thar's no such thing," Hagrid grumbled.

Ignoring the frustrated half-giant, Severus said with a sneer, "Perhaps you'd best give that task to Minerva. I have never gotten along with the Weasley clan. An owl from me would likely be burned, rather than read."

"Maybe if you didn't make their lives a living hell while they were at school..." Minerva began.

"I have not had much choice in the matter, Minerva," Severus replied in an unusually quiet voice.

"Forgive me, Severus," Minerva replied, equally quiet. "Gods know I'm aware of that...I suppose I'm just worried about Miss Granger. I'll get that owl off right away, Albus." Minerva quickly left the room.

Shaking off the hand that Albus had kindly put on his shoulder, Severus snapped, "If you will excuse me, I believe I have some students who await me making their lives a living hell." He stormed from the room.

"Damn. The end of this cursed war cannot come soon enough," murmured Albus to his potion professor's retreating back.

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Bill Weasley did better than reply to Minerva's hastily written missive, he showed up in person before lunch time. The same group of professors joined him in the hospital wing when he arrived.

"Well, as far as I know, there isn't any such thing as a salamander curse. Why would they even need such a thing, as they already have some formidable defense with that fire of theirs?" Bill began.

"Told yer so," mumbled Hagrid.

"Now, that doesn't mean she didn't run afoul of some curse or another, I just doubt it came from the lizard. I've brought some equipment with me...I'd rather you not ask me questions about it...its goblin stuff and technically I shouldn't have it here."

"Still breaking the rules I see, Mr. Weasley?" Snape said snidely.

"Shame you can no longer knock off any points, Professor Snape. Pity," Bill replied with a sneer of his own.

"Now boys," interrupted Albus, making both men roll their eyes. "I'm sure if Miss Granger were awake, she'd be most impressed by your wit. Until that time, perhaps we could concentrate on her trouble?"

"Yes, Headmaster."

"As you wish, Albus."

As Bill began setting up a vast array of odd equipment, most of the professors left to see to their duties. Severus stayed and restlessly paced back and forth. Telling himself he was merely interested in the equipment, he would admit to no one, not even himself, that he was worried about his student. Miss Granger was the best potions student he'd ever taught; he only hoped that there might come a day when he could be free to tell her that. Assuming she didn't lie there in that hospital bed until the end of time. He sighed.

"Have you nothing else to do, you bloody bat, other than flap around in here?" Bill snapped.

"I find myself quite at leisure at present," growled Snape.

Bill looked up, only to find the hint of worry in the dour man's black eyes; said eyes immediately narrowed, only a second too late to hide his concern from the younger man. Bill was nonplussed...he hadn't thought the old bat had it in him. Oh, he knew well enough that Snape was a fellow Order member, and that he'd saved the lives of several of the members with little regard for his own safety. Bill had just never imagined the grumpy man might actually care for any of them. He'd always viewed Snape as a sort of automaton, logically doing--with honor--whatever he considered his duty, but with no feelings involved. The mere thought that the mechanical man might have any feelings at all was practically inconceivable to Bill.

Rather stunned, Bill replied in a voice much less sarcastic than intended, "Well, if you must stay, at least sit your arse down. This equipment is complicated; I don't need any distractions."

With another sigh, Severus reluctantly sat down in a chair across the room, where he could watch the proceedings.

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Three hours passed with much activity by the red-headed man and much silent fretting from the black-robed professor who watched him impatiently. Finally, Bill addressed Severus, "You'd better go get the others." His face did not look hopeful. Severus went immediately to floo the others; it wasn't long until the group had gathered again around the unconscious girl's bed.

"It's not good," Bill began, "the salamander did do something to Hermione, but I have no idea what. Its electrical energy has left an imprint all over her. I cannot find any signs of a curse, but this is way out of my line of expertise. I believe I can wake her...I'm not sure what will happen when I do, but we can at least ask Hermione what happened."

"Well, we've hit a brick wall otherwise, you'd best try to wake her, Bill," Albus decided.

Taking what looked for all the world like a big tuning fork out of one of his bags, Bill rapped it sharply against the stone wall and placed the base of the fork against Hermione's left temple. After a moment, he repeated the action to place the fork against her right temple. Hermione stirred.

Bloody Nimue! I feel like I've got the worst PMS ever. I don't know rather to laugh or cry; what a mess. Maybe I should ask Madame Pomfrey for something...but I don't think it's my time of the month...is it? Opening her eyes questioningly, Hermione was startled to find herself surrounded by several of her professors and inexplicably enough, Ron's older brother, Bill. Why...she was in the hospital wing!

"What's happened?" she said, her voice breaking a bit around her parched throat. "May I have some water?"

"Of course you may, my dear," Poppy said, rushing to hold a glass for her patient.

"We were hoping, Miss Granger, that you would be able to tell us what happened. You seem to have had a run in with a salamander out by the lake."

Remembering, Hermione's eyes widened. "There was a salamander...it was trapped on a floating log so I helped it to shore..."

"That was a witless thing to do you foolish little girl! Surely during all your incessant reading you've discovered that salamanders are best avoided," Severus snarled.

"Severus, that's quite enough," barked Minerva.

Abruptly furious, Hermione snapped right back at Professor Snape, something she would never do when in her right mind. "Of course I knew it was dangerous, you insufferable man! But I wasn't about to leave it to drown."

"Miss Granger, may I remind you..." Severus began.

"That will be enough!" barked Albus. "Tensions are understandably high. Hermione, we've all been quite worried about you. How do you feel?"

"I feel odd. I'm sorry, I just can't seem to get myself together; I feel a bit overwhelmed and emotional."

"Perfectly understandable, dear," Poppy broke in, "you've had a rough time of it. I'll get you something to calm you down. Perhaps you'll feel better if people would stop snapping at you," she finished, with a glare at Professor Snape.

After a simple calming draught, which seemed to have no effect on Hermione's emotional upheaval, she explained what happened at the lakeside. She found herself at odd times having to bite back laughter, tears, and fits of temper. What the hell was wrong with her? Was she going mad?

Severus' keen eyes noticed the girl's difficulty. He found himself both worried and bemused by the normally practical student's loss of control. At any rate, she didn't seem to be in danger anymore; he supposed it was no longer any of his concern.

When she finished, Albus echoed Severus' thoughts. "Well my dear, it seems you are out of harm's way--now, at least. Why don't you rest in your rooms until dinner, with Madame Pomfrey's permission, and we'll all attempt not to borrow trouble."

Poppy gave her approval of the plan and the professors began to leave.

"Professor Snape, sir?" Hermione called.

Leaving the others to go on without him, Severus paused at the door, one questioning eyebrow raised.

"I wanted to apologize for the way I spoke to you earlier. I don't know what came over me. It was inexcusable to speak to a teacher that way and I am truly sorry," Hermione said quietly.

"It was indeed inexcusable. I trust you will understand why I must deduct five points from your house." With a silent nod to her, he turned and strode out the door.

Hermione was not upset by the loss of a mere five points for her calling Snape an "insufferable man." However, she was most distressed by the sudden flood of protectiveness that washed over her as he regarded her. Her? Protective of Snape? Now she knew she was going mad!

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Ensconced in her room, which was blessedly empty as the other girls were still at class, Hermione thought it would be easy to calm her raging emotions. Instead it was harder. The emotions themselves seemed calmer, but more varied. It was as if every emotion under the sun was seeping through the very walls of her room. If she didn't get a handle on this soon, they'd be shipping her off to St. Mungo's! Trying to distract herself with a book, she eventually found herself giggling softly while tears ran down her face...she gave up in disgust. Flopping back on her bed, she tried to think about the problem rationally. Whatever the salamander had done to her, it must have seemed quite serious. She had been unconscious for almost 24 hours and awakened to half the teaching staff gazing down at her. If they had sent for Bill, they must have thought she'd been cursed! Perhaps that explained what was happening to her now. However, Bill hadn't found a curse, so if there was one, she'd likely be stuck like this for a long time indeed. The thought of being in a perpetual state of raging PMS was too much for the normally rational young woman to take. Burying her head in her pillow, she let out the tears she'd been trying to hold back and tried not to be worried when an occasional chuckle slipped out as well.

Following about a half hour of wallowing in self pity, Hermione roused herself enough to consider the other puzzling thing that had occurred. Why in the world had she suddenly felt protective of Snape? True, he'd looked rather pitiful. He obviously hadn't slept the night before. Was it because he was worried about me? That errant thought made Hermione laugh. Snape, worried about a 'foolish little girl'? Honestly! It was almost as silly as her worrying about him. She sighed, suddenly serious again. And yet she had been worried about him as he stood in the doorway taking points from her. Why? He was the most indestructible person she knew. Or was he? Hermione knew he did difficult work for the Order, but he radiated such confidence and competence that she had never really given a thought to the fact that what he did was extremely dangerous. She had long respected him as a teacher, unpleasant as he was; now, for the first time, she began to see his work for the Order in a new light. Damn, the stubborn man put his life in danger every single day! She must have realized that subconsciously, that would explain her sudden rush of protectiveness. Having decided this, Hermione began to freshen up before heading down for dinner. In her defense, she could not possibly realize how wrong about the situation she was.

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Hermione was equally wrong about finding some comfort in the familiar realm of the Great Hall at dinnertime. She'd hoped the normal hustle and bustle would take her mind off her emotional roller coaster ride. As she stepped into the Hall, she realized her mistake. It was as though every emotion in her repertoire had escaped their confines, beating against her psyche. It felt a bit like being hit all over her body with pillows--not immediately painful, but terribly distracting. Starting to turn on her heel and flee, she noticed Harry and Ron waving to her cheerfully. Blast! If she fled now, they'd be after her in an instant, demanding explanations for things she had no answers for. Taking hold of her Gryffindor courage, she continued into the Hall, taking her customary seat between her two friends. Hermione had no idea just how torturous and mortifying the meal would be.