A Long Night
Title: A Long Night
Team: Spying for The Order
Rating: G
Challenge: Hogwarts: A History
Word Count: 100 x 6
Characters: Severus Snape, Hermione Granger
Summary: An argument leads Severus to think about his past.
I.
Sitting at the Head Table in the Great Hall, Severus sat in front of his plate and did little more than pick at his food. The teachers rotated chaperone duty at meals, and tonight it was his turn. He had to stay at least thirty minutes. Now, nursing a tension headache, he counted down the seconds before he could leave.
One hundred fifty seconds left.
Professor Granger had firmly affixed herself to his last nerve during their meeting at lunch today. Her initial words, followed by the subsequent irrational behaviour at his response, had been the instigator of his headache.
II.
No sooner did the thought of Granger pass through his head, then he was jostled from his personal thoughts with a loud, Bang.
Standing at his left side was none other than the witch he’d been thinking of, she’d just slammed down a copy of Hogwarts: A History on the table where his plate had been moments earlier. The witch glared at him and appeared to be on the brink of telling him something important, but then she paused and did nothing more than whisper a page number before she stormed off.
Severus scowled.
He still had eighty-eight seconds left.
III.
Growling, he ignored the curious looks sent his way by nosy colleagues. He waited until the last second was up, and ignoring the book, he left the hall. At least Minerva wouldn’t be able to lecture him about his duties this way.
He wasn’t even going to bother looking at the gift she’d bestowed upon him. He knew that if the woman had gone through the trouble of giving him a page number, then she was right.
Damn girl. When was she going to realise that past rules were irrelevant in this situation? There was more to it than that!
IV.
Later that night, Severus made his way to the library. He’d long ago decided that children couldn’t appreciate having access to one of the finest libraries in all of Wizarding Britain.
But perusing the shelves in the wee hours of the morning allowed him to ignore having to share this room with the children of the school. The room was blissfully quiet as he prowled the stacks. The smells of the books filled his nostrils, bringing about a peace within him.
Reaching the end of the row, he stopped before a shelf and plucked a thin book from its confines.
V.
This book was one he’d not touched since he was a student. His mother had told him about it the summer before his third year. Severus gently ran his hand along the worn binding. The book’s cover held no title, only the design of an intricate Celtic knot that contained the Runic symbol: Berkano.
Growth, birth, development, and love affairs. Rather symbolic of teenage life, Severus realised. Not that he’d realised before. He’d thought Eileen had chosen it because she liked the bit about ‘love affairs’. It didn’t matter, what her intent had been, the fact was it was powerful.
VI.
His mother had enchanted the book to hold her secrets. Something of a diary he’d originally supposed, although he had soon learned otherwise. As a student, Eileen had told the few friends she had about it and in turn, Severus believed, those people had passed on the knowledge of the book to others as well.
Unless a student was a consummate bookworm who read every book in the library, it was unlikely that someone would find it. It was only learned about by word of mouth.
Severus tucked the book in his pocket and walked back down to his quarters.
A/N: The runic definition was taken from this website.
This is a serial drabble of approximately 18 drabbles. I'm just dusting off the last couple because I'm not quite happy with them yet. :)
Part II
To be continued...
Team: Spying for The Order
Rating: G
Challenge: Hogwarts: A History
Word Count: 100 x 6
Characters: Severus Snape, Hermione Granger
Summary: An argument leads Severus to think about his past.
I.
Sitting at the Head Table in the Great Hall, Severus sat in front of his plate and did little more than pick at his food. The teachers rotated chaperone duty at meals, and tonight it was his turn. He had to stay at least thirty minutes. Now, nursing a tension headache, he counted down the seconds before he could leave.
One hundred fifty seconds left.
Professor Granger had firmly affixed herself to his last nerve during their meeting at lunch today. Her initial words, followed by the subsequent irrational behaviour at his response, had been the instigator of his headache.
II.
No sooner did the thought of Granger pass through his head, then he was jostled from his personal thoughts with a loud, Bang.
Standing at his left side was none other than the witch he’d been thinking of, she’d just slammed down a copy of Hogwarts: A History on the table where his plate had been moments earlier. The witch glared at him and appeared to be on the brink of telling him something important, but then she paused and did nothing more than whisper a page number before she stormed off.
Severus scowled.
He still had eighty-eight seconds left.
III.
Growling, he ignored the curious looks sent his way by nosy colleagues. He waited until the last second was up, and ignoring the book, he left the hall. At least Minerva wouldn’t be able to lecture him about his duties this way.
He wasn’t even going to bother looking at the gift she’d bestowed upon him. He knew that if the woman had gone through the trouble of giving him a page number, then she was right.
Damn girl. When was she going to realise that past rules were irrelevant in this situation? There was more to it than that!
IV.
Later that night, Severus made his way to the library. He’d long ago decided that children couldn’t appreciate having access to one of the finest libraries in all of Wizarding Britain.
But perusing the shelves in the wee hours of the morning allowed him to ignore having to share this room with the children of the school. The room was blissfully quiet as he prowled the stacks. The smells of the books filled his nostrils, bringing about a peace within him.
Reaching the end of the row, he stopped before a shelf and plucked a thin book from its confines.
V.
This book was one he’d not touched since he was a student. His mother had told him about it the summer before his third year. Severus gently ran his hand along the worn binding. The book’s cover held no title, only the design of an intricate Celtic knot that contained the Runic symbol: Berkano.
Growth, birth, development, and love affairs. Rather symbolic of teenage life, Severus realised. Not that he’d realised before. He’d thought Eileen had chosen it because she liked the bit about ‘love affairs’. It didn’t matter, what her intent had been, the fact was it was powerful.
VI.
His mother had enchanted the book to hold her secrets. Something of a diary he’d originally supposed, although he had soon learned otherwise. As a student, Eileen had told the few friends she had about it and in turn, Severus believed, those people had passed on the knowledge of the book to others as well.
Unless a student was a consummate bookworm who read every book in the library, it was unlikely that someone would find it. It was only learned about by word of mouth.
Severus tucked the book in his pocket and walked back down to his quarters.
A/N: The runic definition was taken from this website.
This is a serial drabble of approximately 18 drabbles. I'm just dusting off the last couple because I'm not quite happy with them yet. :)
Part II
To be continued...