Chapter 6: Circles

Snape convinced Hermione to wait until the next day to embark upon their attempt to destroy the Horcrux. Hermione awoke early. As she clasped her amulet around her neck, Hermione ran through the steps in her mind. Too anxious to eat, she decided to make some tea while she waited for Snape. Her wait was not long yet seemed an eternity. Upon entering, Snape’s brisk manner reminded her a bit of Tubersnuf’s.

“Ready?” he asked.

She nodded, and they were off.

When they arrived at the remote house, it looked the same as it had on their previous trips. Hermione approached the Horcrux with more than a little apprehension.

Snape saw her hesitation. “Are you sure you don’t want to wait for Tubersnuf?”

Hermione slightly shook her head to the negative and stepped towards the swirling bowl.

“I can help to lead you, but you must break the curse and destroy the Horcrux yourself.”

Hermione looked back at her former teacher, took a deep breath and began.

Leaving nothing to chance, Hermione started with the Four-Point Spell. “Point Me.”

Her wand spun on her palm, stopping at due north. She turned ninety degrees to face east and began casting the ancient Ogham runes. Hermione rotated in a clock-wise direction, drawing runic patterns in the air, then stepping to the right and forming a new circle oriented south.

She repeated this two more times until the Four Directions each had their own circle, each touching, forming a center over the cursed Horcrux. To complete the Celtic form of the Five Zones, Hermione needed to cast a fifth circle in the middle of the first four, the midpoint being directly on the Horcrux. She stood as close as she dared to the Horcrux and began the final circle; once complete, she would not be able to step outside of the circles until the task was complete.

Snape watched her precise movements slow as she became more cautious. Closing the last circle, Hermione stopped, facing north once again and locking eyes with Snape. Time seemed to stand still, enclosed within the symbols, everything outside looking pale in comparison. Hermione waited for something to happen, a sign that the curse had been broken and that it was safe to destroy the Horcrux—nothing, just utter stillness, except for the swirling mist of the Pensieve.

Snape spoke, “You need to unlock the circles to lift the curse.”

Unlock? Hermione stood there looking at the runes floating around her—looking for the key to unlocking them; they overlapped in several places.

“Raise the center circle,” said Snape. He sounded far off to Hermione, even though he only stood a few feet away in the small room. For some reason, his logic puzzle with the potions that he used to protect the Sorcerer’s Stone flashed through her mind.

She began elevating the circle; it was difficult to move. It seemed to lift a little and then slide back down. Hermione thought she maybe should have waited for Tubersnuf; two wands may have made the lifting less demanding. As it was though, she had to complete the task she had started. She concentrated all her efforts at hoisting the center circle and began making progress.

Suddenly, it dropped back down several feet with a large gust, the symbols shattering across the room in an outward wave, throwing everything in the attic, including every speck of dust, against one of the four walls. Hermione was not sure if standing in the center of the circle or the dragon amulet that Bill had given her from Egypt when she started her job had saved her from the blast. Snape had not been so lucky. He was lying slumped against the eastern wall. Hermione stood in the middle of the remaining four circles, unable to help him until she finished her task.

She had little time to worry about him as the remaining circles began to drift apart, opening the center. The Horcrux seemed to be highlighted amongst the aperture. Hermione noticed a movement that was not the swirling of the foggy mist. The marking of the serpent that had been on the outside of the Pensieve was growing larger and coiling around the basin. Its head made it around to the side Hermione stood on; it reared up to half her height, hissing and looking her in the eye threateningly.

Hermione froze. She was trying to recall everything she knew about serpents, but there was no time—the serpent rose up further. Hermione instinctively shot blue flames out of the end of her wand; the serpent disappeared in a blinding flash, leaving nothing but a smoky outline.

Hermione’s attention turned back to the Pensieve; the mist had slowed down, and a form was rising out of the miasma. The figure seemed oddly familiar. When it had fully taken shape, Hermione found herself staring at a small ghostly image of Snape. She was taken aback; she felt her knees weaken, but she managed to remain standing—staring.

The figure turned and began speaking. Hermione didn’t want to hear what he had to say, but at the same time felt she must. The image spoke of killings, whom he had killed to make the Horcrux. He referred to where he was the night the Potters had been attacked. He spoke of furtive meetings and secrets concealed, using names she knew and those she had never heard before. Hermione only heard half of what was said, her mind reeling. The image sunk back down into the mist. Hermione felt betrayed and angry at the man lying unconscious across the room from her. She raised her wand. Prosterno Ac Efflectum! The Pensieve turned to dust.

Snape regained consciousness just in time to see Hermione destroy his Horcrux. He felt a sense of sadness and relief. He tentatively stood, leaning heavily on the wall for support. Hermione stood there staring at him, her face and hair slightly damp from her efforts with a look he couldn’t quite place. When his eyes met hers, he recognized it as disappointment, then anger.

Hermione walked over to him, looked him up and down and said, “Harry was right; you are a coward. Your whole life—never standing up for yourself, killing for Voldemort, leaving me to destroy your Horcrux.”

Hermione was so upset, she only wanted to leave, but she also wanted to know why, so she asked the simple one-word question, “Why?”

Snape did not answer. He was still a bit unsteady, but not too woozy to realize that she had said Potter was right and called him a coward in the same sentence. He wanted to scream at her his reasons for everything he had done since joining the Death Eaters to standing in this room with her.

Instead, he said, “Get out of my house!”

Hermione snatched up the Portkey and left.

A/N: Thank you to GinnyW for beta reading.