A Muggle awakens

Disclaimer: The characters of the Harry Potter Universe are not mine. I only take them out to play and promise to return them when I'm done.

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Damage Control - Chapter Six

A Muggle Awakens

The two boys watched silently as their Potions master swooped into the dim kitchen at number twelve, Grimmauld Place and sat opposite them.

"Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, do stop gaping and tell me what's going on. It had better be worth my while as I do not approve of anyone wasting my time," he added with a sneer, "especially the two of you."

Harry ignored the scathing comments and began relating the events from the moment they got off the Hogwarts Express at King's Cross. Ron only occasionally chimed in with little tidbits that Harry had forgotten about and after a while Snape leaned forward, placing his elbows on the scarred tabletop and steepling his fingers below his chin. Without interrupting even once, he listened intently until both boys were silent having reached the time they parted company with the girls earlier this afternoon. Just as he was about to speak, Albus Dumbledore tumbled through the fireplace, a tangle of long, white beard and midnight blue robes.

"Severus, I got your message," the headmaster said in way of a greeting. "What is so urgent that can't wait till tomorrow?" Then he turned to Harry and Ron. "Harry, Ron, weren't you going to meet up with Miss Granger today?" Neither boy was surprised that the headmaster knew. Molly Weasley in all likelihood had told him and besides, Dumbledore always seemed omniscient.

"Yes, sir, we did meet, and we have just finished telling Professor Snape some news that might be of importance, or rather, news that might have implications for our world," Harry replied.

"Harry, Ron, I would like to speak with Professor Snape. If you'd be so kind as to wait here, I will return shortly and then we can discuss your news," Dumbledore suggested, his eyes twinkling. He then moved towards the kitchen door with Snape following him and the two men headed to the library where they would be undisturbed.

Snape spoke in great detail with Dumbledore of his meeting with Draco Malfoy and Dumbledore did not seem the least bit surprised to hear of Draco's change of heart as he had seen it coming for a while.

"Severus, of course we will help Draco. I will speak with Minerva this evening, I'm sure that we could use some additional assistance at the school in the coming days," he assured the Potions master with a knowing look. Before turning to the door to meet Harry and Ron in the kitchen Dumbledore spoke quietly, "It seems as though history does indeed repeat itself, wouldn't you agree Severus?"

Not waiting for a reply, the headmaster turned and headed for the kitchen where for the second time that evening, the two boys told him of their findings.

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Alana was unusually quiet on the bus ride back to Russell Square. Hermione did not give it much thought, thinking her cousin was overwhelmed at getting a first taste of the Magical world in Diagon Alley. However, when they got home just in time for supper and Alana refused to eat claiming a headache as an excuse, Hermione wondered if something was wrong. She stayed at the dinner table just long enough to not appear impolite and then excused herself and headed straight to Alana's room.

"Alana, what is the matter? You haven't seemed quite yourself since we left Diagon Alley," Hermione enquired.

Alana avoided looking at Hermione and sighed deeply. "I don't quite know what's happening right now, let alone explain it."

"Why don't you try," Hermione suggested, trying to sound encouraging. "I don't know if I can help, but sometimes just talking about what's on your mind can help," she continued.

Alana looked at her thoughtfully, figuring that her cousin had a valid point. "Okay, I can't get Malfoy out of my mind." Seeing Hermione grin, she rolled her eyes. "No, Hermione, not like that! I think Malfoy is in danger. Don't ask me why, it's just a hunch I have but I've had this kind of feeling before and it turned out correct."

"Okay... so what kind of danger do you think he's in?" Hermione asked curiously, feeling a bit bewildered by her cousin's sudden abilities. In fact, she started to wonder to herself whether Alana might be a witch who had somehow slipped through the nets of the Ministry of Magic.

"I'm not sure, but I think the danger comes from within his family," Alana replied. She sighed, not sure what to make of that sudden urge to do something to get Draco out of danger. "Heck, Hermione, I don't know where this is coming from! I don't even like him, not from the books and certainly not from the way he behaved this afternoon! But something, something inside of me is urging me to do something," she said, with desperation in her voice. "I don't think I'd be able to have a clear conscience if I just ignored that hunch and then found out something happened to him. On the other hand, of course, I have no idea what to do!" She sounded defeated.

Hedwig's arrival interrupted the girls and Hermione untied Harry's letter from the owl's leg, asking her to wait. Turning to Alana, she said, "I think the best thing to do is for me to write to Professor Dumbledore. He will know what to make of it." Alana nodded in agreement and Hermione sat down, writing a quick reply to Harry and a letter for the headmaster.

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'Dear Harry,

Hermione'

'Dear Professor Dumbledore,

Hermione Granger'

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Severus Snape sat in his favourite chair by the fireplace, so engrossed in 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' that even his brandy filled tumbler was left forgotten on the side table. Whilst the general description of his persona did not particularly bother him, he found himself feeling rather disconcerted after reading his very own first year speech word for word.

'Granger must be right.... There is no way anyone could have repeated everything so accurately without an advanced tracking charm...' he admitted to himself, albeit grudgingly.

A while later as he was just enjoying reading about Potter's trouble in his first Quidditch match, Gryffindor versus Slytherin – Albus Dumbledore's head appeared in the fireplace, "Severus, so sorry to bother you at such a late hour. However, something has come up and I need your input, could you come to my office please?"

"Certainly, Albus, I'll be there in a moment," he replied, groaning inwardly. He was not sure what to make of the books or why they were published, but he wanted to solve this mystery and preferably without constantly being interrupted.

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An hour later he was back in his chambers even more mystified than before he had left. Now they had a Muggle girl who appeared to have rapidly awakened to Magic on top of everything else.

'A series of bestselling Muggle novels that would better qualify as a biography. A Muggle learning Magic...Merlin, what next...' He sighed, exasperated. The headmaster's parting words also rang in his mind.

"Severus, I would advise you to not punish anyone whose only crime was committed because of a wrong suspicion and the need to protect a dear friend." He hated it when Albus spoke in riddles.

Sometime later, that particular riddle was solved as he continued reading The Philosopher's Stone.

'...Hermione had fought her way across to the stand where Snape stood and was now racing along the row behind him; she didn't even stop to say sorry as she knocked Professor Quirrell headfirst into the row in front. Reaching Snape, she crouched down, pulled out her wand and whispered a few, well chosen words. Bright blue flames shot from her wand on to the hem of Snape's robes...'

The Granger chit could count herself extremely lucky that it wasn't term time, or else he would have ignored the headmaster's request entirely. 'How dare she set fire on me...' He was seething, completely ignoring her well-meant motive but deciding to put aside any plans for revenge – for now. After all, he did have nearly an entire year before she would finally leave Hogwarts for good, and he had no doubt that he would find a way to get back at her without the headmaster finding out.

His mind wandered back to the news Albus had shared with him about Granger's cousin. So his great aunt had been correct with her prophecy after all. This fact alone would not be surprising; many seers had given correct prophecies over the centuries, but Aurelia Black was born a Squib and never showed an ounce of magical power until her niece, Maya Snape visited her to introduce her new husband. Aurelia seemed to lose consciousness briefly while the three sat near the fireplace, chatting and drinking tea. When she awoke, she uttered the words that would later become known as "The Squib's Prophecy".

'There will be desperate times, when the Reptilian races attempt to take over both the Magical and the Muggle worlds. The force will be evident only in the Magical world, and hidden in the Muggle world. But a few Muggles will awaken to our and other worlds and together will overthrow those who are not deserving of power and render them powerless... All will fall into place when the time comes.'

Aurelia then pulled her niece aside and urged her to look after her son. Maya looked at her confusedly. "Aunt, I have only just gotten married and we'd like to enjoy ourselves a little before we think of children." Aurelia insisted that she would soon bear a son and he needed looking after. "Do not ever lose faith in him, Maya. He may spend time walking the left path, but he'll return. And he will play a major role in bringing the Reptilians down. And Maya – don't judge him for his choices - ever," Those were her last words to the bewildered young woman.

Neither Maya nor Septimus Snape paid much thought to the old lady's words until Maya found herself pregnant not even a year later, unexpected and unplanned. She quickly informed Albus Dumbledore of what her aunt had said and he had made note of the event, never mentioning it again until today, when he received Hermione's letter.

Maya had informed her son of the prophecy after he left Voldemort's ranks. "Severus, I know you're on the right side now. Stay there and keep in mind Aunt Aurelia's prophecy." He did not appreciate being reminded of the mistake he made in his recent youth and had brushed her words off impatiently.

Severus Snape rolled his eyes at the particular smugness the headmaster was displaying when he showed him Granger's letter. Unconvinced he snarled at the older man, "So one part of the bloody prophecy seems to be true. For all we know, it might be a completely unrelated event, the girl might be a witch who was simply overlooked," he suggested, not even entirely convinced of this himself.

Albus looked at him, the smug expression still plastered on his face. "We'll see, Severus, time will tell."

Severus' thoughts wandered back to the book in front of him. He'd finish reading it and start with the next one tomorrow, grateful that he had nearly two months left before the dunderheads arrived again for another term.

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The girls had talked late into the night and Hermione was none too pleased when an owl's tapping sound woke her up in the morning. Sighing, she peeled herself out of bed and opened the window to let the strange owl in. She woke up instantly when she recognized the Hogwarts seal on the parchment tied to the owl's leg and quickly untied and ripped the letter open. She began reading impatiently and barely took notice as the tawny owl took flight through the still open window.

'Dear Miss Granger,

Headmaster'

"Alana, wake up," Hermione yelled at her cousin, having run from her own room to show her the headmaster's letter. "You were right, you know! Malfoy was in danger, but he's not now!" Alana yawned while grabbing the letter that Hermione waved in front of her. She looked very relieved, having taken Dumbledore's words in.

"Phew! I'm glad I'm not going mad, you know," Alana said to her cousin, a relieved grin showing on her face. "It feels like I'm in the middle of an adventure now, I rather like that," she added.

"Adventure? Yeah, I guess you're right," Hermione allowed, then continued, "Although I'm not sure I like the sound of that. Every time I got myself into an adventure with Harry and Ron, we seemed to find ourselves in deep trouble..." Her thoughts wandered back to the many adventures she and her two closest friends had lived through. Having just read the Harry Potter books made all the memories seem much fresher now; solving the puzzle to get to the Philosopher's Stone felt like only yesterday. Suddenly her blood ran cold, thinking of all the things she had done that she didn't want anyone to know about.

"Oh Merlin, Alana!" she exclaimed, a look of terror on her face. "Professor Snape is probably reading the books as we speak." Her voice became little more than a whisper, "He'll know it was me that set fire to his robes. And not only that, he'll know I stole the Boomslang skin from his private stores! He is going to kill me..." She was absolutely horrified. "I'm such an idiot," she moaned. "I was the one who told Harry to give him the books. Oh Merlin, I am in so much trouble..."

Alana tried her best to calm her cousin. "Hermione, that was years ago! He's not going to punish you for something you did that long ago! And besides, the books explain well enough the reasons for your action; it's not as if you did it out of mischief!"

"You know his character from the books; do you seriously think he's going to care what my motives were, Alana? He'll see that his authority was seriously undermined and he'll punish me for that, no doubt." She sighed deeply.

For the next few hours, nothing Alana said or did could cheer her up. Hermione was constantly entertaining horrific visions of how the Potions master would punish her for all her misdeeds. The more engrossed she became in the scenario, the worse the punishment. First, detention for the remainder of her days at Hogwarts was the worst she could imagine. A few hours later, simple detention and cleaning cauldrons without magic seemed like a dream. No, he would ensure she'd be expelled at the least. Her wand would probably be broken in two and she'd end up living like a Muggle, disgraced and abandoned by the Magical world. She could just picture the look of triumph in his eyes.

Eventually, Alana had enough of her cousin's horror scenarios and snapped at her, "Look, there's nothing you can do right now. Professor Dumbledore surely knows what you've done and he won't allow having you banned from the Magic world! Now, take your mind off it; you'll have plenty of time to worry when you face Snape – if he really decides to punish you!"

"I guess you're right," Hermione sighed, thankful that her attention was finally diverted entirely when Aunt Amelia called both girls downstairs, having just returned from town.

"Girls, how would you like to see a West End Show? I thought since Hermione doesn't usually spend any time in London, she might enjoy it?"

Alana looked excited. "Oh Mum, brilliant idea, did you get tickets already?"

Her mother looked smug and chuckled. "I happened to be near Leicester Square at lunchtime, so I popped over to The Booth and managed to get a couple of tickets for "Phantom". You have plenty of time to get ready."

Alana almost squealed, whilst her cousin looked in awe. "Wow, 'Phantom of the Opera"! It's one I've always wanted to see. The music is so brilliant!"

"Oh you're gonna love it, Hermione! It's my all time favourite musical, and I've seen a lot of them. The music is brilliant, the cast is fantastic, and the story is simply awesome," Alana said.

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"Merlin, this was so, so, so incredible, Alana. I'll be forever grateful to your mum for getting us the tickets!" Hermione was still in awe of the performance as they headed back towards Russell Square.

"It's brilliant, isn't it," Alana agreed. "So, who is your favourite character?" she asked.

Hermione thought for a moment, before replying, "I think it's got to be Madame Giry. She has so much presence, even though she's not one of the main characters. Her voice is brilliant and she commands the whole ballet corps by sheer presence, she's simply incredible. And I loved her dress, so... individual, bringing out the best in her figure and completely ignoring the fashion of the day. I really liked that."

Alana was surprised. "Since when are you interested in clothes, Hermione? That's a totally new trait!"

Hermione shook her head. "I'm not interested in fashion. But that doesn't mean I'm not interested in nice clothing. I just don't like being dictated what I can wear or not wear just because some fashion guru says so."

"You mean, you like individuality...sort of like Snape?" Alana couldn't help snickering.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Please, don't remind me! I managed to forget about him for the entire evening and I'd rather dream of 'Phantom of the Opera' than of the punishments he's going to make up for me!"

"You'll dream of 'Phantom', don't worry," Alana assured her. She looked at Hermione sideways. "You know... The Phantom's character reminds me of Snape in the books."

Hermione gave her a hard look. "You're joking, right? How on earth could you possibly compare the two? The Phantom looks rather dashing as long as his mask is on, and besides, he's quite charming – at least at the beginning!"

"Don't go by looks, or charm. Look at the character, the wicked sense of humour might be more evident in the show than in the Harry Potter books, but couldn't you just imagine Snape doing exactly the things Eric does?" Alana warmed up to the subject at hand and continued talking excitedly. "Couldn't you imagine Snape suddenly turning up somewhere, totally unexpected? Okay, he might not smash a chandelier on an entire cast of performers, but he could surely think of something equally dramatic. Or take the scene where the Phantom takes Christine to the dungeons. Couldn't you imagine Snape doing that with some beautiful girl? – And his voice! Have you never noticed Snape's voice? I find it just as captivating as the Phantom's!" Alana groaned. "Gods, Hermione, I don't think I could ever concentrate if my teacher had such a voice. And I've only heard it once, but it surely sent shivers down my spine."

Hermione shook her head in disbelief. "You. Have. Gone. Utterly. Mad." She could not believe her cousin's analysis of her Potions professor. "Alana, please. Can we talk about something not involving that particular professor? I'm really not in the mood to think of his character - or the punishments he'll no doubt find for me."

Alana heeded her cousin's wish and the rest of the short walk was spent discussing the differences between Muggle schools and Hogwarts.

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A/N

The passage about Hermione setting fire on Snape is directly quoted from "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", Bloomsbury paper back

The reference to the Phantom of the Opera is to the current cast (Spring 2005) in London's West End (Her Majesty's Theatre). Madame Giry is performed by Heather Jackson.

"The Booth" is really located in Leicester Square and sells cut price tickets for West End Shows on the day.

Big thanks to my beta Tatiana. You rock!

Reviews are greatly appreciated.