Saturday, May 31, 2008
Continue Story (I copy and paste from internet) - Chapter 2 - 'IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN LIKE THIS'
CHAPTER 2
“HELLO! Hermione, are you in there?” Neville Longbottom asked as he gently knocked on the top of her head. She had been so lost in her own mind that she hadn’t realized that all of her friends were trying to talk to her and that the feast had completely started. When Hermione plastered her fakest smile and a gentle laugh, the rest of the table started to laugh as well. “Hermione, you drift off there for a moment?”
“Y-Yeah,” Hermione stammered as she ran a hand through her hair and started to look at the food to eat. She hadn’t eaten anything since the night before, the last night that she was able to see Harry, Ron, and all of the other Weasleys but as she looked at all of the plates of her favorite foods, she just couldn’t lift her arm to pick up a ladle or a fork to get anything from the plates. “I’ve just had a lot on my mind lately. I think the last time I was able to actually focus on anything was a week or so ago…” After saying that, Hermione stopped focusing again.
Her mind was everywhere else but the feast and from up at the Teachers’ Table, both McGonagall and Snape had noticed that. Snape sat in the high-backed chair that once housed the glutious maximus of Albus Dumbledore. Now, it was the seat of Severus Snape, the one person that everyone except for Slytherins had not wanted to be the Head Master. Gently, McGonagall tapped Snape’s shoulder. “Do you see her?” she whispered.
“I don’t think I have ever seen any of the trio look that upset except for when Dumbledore had died,” Snape replied. Right after he and Draco had run, Snape returned to the school and sought out McGonagall to talk to her about everything. Dumbledore had left her a note, explaining everything that he had asked of Snape, and she had gotten it by the time that he had gotten into the old Head Master’s office to speak to the acting Head Mistress. They had spoken about everything for over three hours before she had finally asked him to be the Head Master. He took the job graciously; he knew that he had to at least try to change everything around. “What do you think we should do about her, Minerva?” he asked as he took a small bite of his chicken.
McGonagall looked over at Hermione who looked very antsy. She was gently playing with her hands under the table and every once in a while made a small attempt to eat something but couldn’t get the fork actually into her mouth. No one at the Gryffindor table noticed and if they did, they didn’t show it. Hermione would go back to playing with her hands and faking a smile to make everyone believe that she was strong, when deep down inside her entire being was screaming to be set free and not be locked in the castle. McGonagall could tell from all the way up at the Teachers’ table that Hermione Granger felt trapped. “We have to do something Severus or she might end up in worse trouble than we had ever imagined for this girl,” she said as she looked over at Snape and then looked down at her plate, confusion wrapping its way around her mind. She had never seen a student fall as far as Hermione was currently falling at the moment.
Severus looked over at Hermione and saw the same thing that McGonagall was seeing. This girl had gone from one of the most respected students who could be pushed to amazing limits and always succeed but he could tell that she had changed greatly. There was food on her plate but it had only been picked at, none actually made it into her mouth. Her friends were around her, smiles plastered to their faces, and they were trying to make her feel better but she just wouldn’t allow them to. She could tell that they weren’t genuine smiles since they, too, missed Harry and Ron but they just couldn’t even comprehend what she was going through.
“YOU THINK YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE WHO CARES ABOUT THEM!” Lavender Brown bellowed as she stood to her feet. “WE MISS THEM TOO! I MISS RON SO MUCH!”
Hermione stood to her feet and turned around, but then stopped herself and slammed her fist into Lavender’s face. The entire Hall had grown silent the moment that Lavender yelled so everyone was able to hear the crunching noise that was Lavender’s nose being smashed. “Listen to me you little stuck-up trash!” Hermione said in a very calm, yet livid, voice. “Go ahead and tell me that I’m not the only one who misses them, I already know that! But you don’t know ANYTHING you silly, little girl! I was supposed to go with them! I TAUGHT THEM EVERYTHING THAT I BELIEVED THAT THEY NEEDED TO KNOW BEFORE THEY LEFT! They needed me, not some girl that both of them despised, and yes, you are that girl!” Parvati stood to her feet and made her way over to her best friend who had been knocked to the ground as she tried to help clean the girl of blood. Hermione shook her head as she stared down at the two girls and rolled her eyes. “It’s so funny how you act as if you know everything but you couldn’t even see that Ron never wanted you in the first place.”
“That’s a lie,” Lavender said as she held her nose and fought back tears. “He loved me!”
“Right…That’s why he told me that he just dated you to try to get closer to me right?” Hermione replied before she began to walk out of the Great Hall. “Oh, and if you ever try to say something that stupid again, I’ll make sure that I break more than just your nose.” With that, Hermione made her way out of the Great Hall, the piece of paper gripped tightly in her hand so she could figure out where her sleeping accommodations were.
Snape got to his feet while this whole scene had played out, as had McGonagall, and the moment that Hermione left the Great Hall, he left after her. McGonagall ran to Lavender to try to help the badly beaten girl. “Miss Granger, halt,” Snape called as he watched Hermione retreat down the hall. When she didn’t stop, he ran after her. “Did you not hear me?” Hermione didn’t reply. Instead, she took off down the hall, looking down at the paper every now and then to try to remember the information she had just memorized. “HALT!”
“NO!” Hermione replied as she finally found the portrait of an angel. She waved down at Hermione and smiled. “G-Godric,” Hermione said in a very out of breath voice before the portrait sunk into the wall and moved to the side, revealing a door hidden behind it. Hermione ran in and watched the portrait cover up the door through a tiny window at the very top of the door. Letting out a sigh of relief, she made her way over to a comfy looking sofa. It was amber colored suede. Hermione didn’t really care about the color; she just wanted to sit down. The moment that she did, she leaned on her side and began to bawl her eyes out.
Snape made his way in but stopped right at the door. He was so ready to yell at her and give her detention for punching Lavender and breaking the poor girl’s nose but the moment that the sobbing was made audible to his ears, he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t pull himself to actually yell at this girl who had fallen completely. Snape hung his head and left Hermione’s Common Room. Letting out a sigh, he walked up towards his office. “What are we going to do?” he asked himself.
# posted by Sek Koon @ 7:56 AM 
