Dream & Shadow

33* Hermione's Qualms

Two eagle owls sat on a high perch near an open window. The chill after a sunny day in May blew fresh cold air into the unused classroom on the ground floor. The professor was not yet there. Press cuttings and handwritten notes littered the teacher's desk and piqued Hermione's interest. The feathered observers screeched angrily when the girl searched through the black and white pieces of paper reading the headlines. Hermione gained no glimpse into Leonor's privacy by reading the snippets but was right in believing the owls called Professor Scott. She didn't need to wait long.

"Good evening Hermione! You are early. Everybody else is still at dinner," asked Leonor friendly and put a basket with fresh herbs to one of the student's tables. The owls became silent.

"Good evening. I finished dinner already," lied Hermione. "We do Herbology today?" said Hermione shyly. She first liked to steer in safe water. She was deliberately early to find something out. Hermione spent an awful lot of time stalking the healer and asking all sorts of questions. Eventually, Hermione trusted Scott and concluded that she would come off badly in Snape's company. Scott showed no dislike against Harry and was obviously not involved with the plot against Hermione's best friend. Snape's role presented itself more and more ambiguous; he got on with Scott but resented everybody else being friendly with Harry. Snape knew Karkaroff and was friends with the Malfoy family; that Sirius didn't know about Snape to be a Death Eater wasn't any proof about his real alliance.

"Not exactly. We won't learn how to plant or grow them. Professor Sprout kindly prepared the samples and I must water them before everything withers. If you wouldn't mind helping me?" Leonor hexed a long row of small flasks, filled them with water and put one green stalk after the other into it.

"What do we do today?" asked Hermione again.

"You'll see that in about one hour," grinned Leonor. Hermione had already given up asking too much beforehand in general but couldn't contain herself in the classroom. The girl continued to work with the herbs and Leonor closed the large windows. The fresh air was welcome. Leonor was tired; every evening filled with home visits or consultations. She'd shifted all the morning work into the late evening to have enough time at St. Mungo's. It was difficult to admit, but Occlumency with Severus was more pleasant than the current workload. The headaches created by magic were easier to accept than those created by stuffy hospital air and affliction. Leonor missed the inventive tastes of Severus' tea and the kisses. Now, they hardly spoke more than a few words. Severus believed that the walls of Hogwarts had ears and still he knew in an instant when the Crutiatus potion needed improvement. He'd worked on it without fuss. Leonor didn't even need to ask. Severus heard the facts out and sent Leonor unceremoniously to bed; telling that he preferred to work alone. In exchange, she realized him concocting several nights before creating a successful result, but there was no suggestion of fatigue in Severus dark eyes. He reorganized the teacher's duty easily to free up evenings, nights and weekends whenever needed to finish the research.

"The room is still smelly. Tomorrow with the younger students it's better, but if the room is not used for some days the stale smell will return. I should use the potions' classroom," said Leonor more to herself than to Hermione. The necessary equipment was in the dungeons and it was much less effort to arrange everything before class, at least it would be the case next week when she planned to brew some common healing draughts. Severus made it a habit to appear in the classroom half-through the lesson anyway.

"The dungeon?" Hermione gave Leonor a haunted look.

"Yes, Professor Snape's classroom," Leonor emphasised the correct title of Severus. There was no need to justify the decision even if the headmaster kindly arranged the extra classroom on the ground floor. There was in the meantime a large group of foreign students and mainly Hufflepuffs with an interest to learn about the healer's profession.