In golden shine, hundreds of painted heads whispered their usual chats, ignored by those who passed by. Only here and there a comment was given by a student, who would as mostly find themselves confronted with anger about `eavesdropping´.
One after another, the students vanished into different directions. The Fat Lady studied her fingernails, not interested in looking down over the banister. The feast was long over, and still she hung openly. Like every year, she had given up closing as long as students with red and golden ties would appear downstairs. She blew an annoyed snort when she saw the next three from the corner of her eye. Way too slow for her liking, they climbed up. Then, to increase her discomfort, Hermione Granger froze in the middle of the last staircase landing up to the Gryffindor common room, making Ron and Harry stop with bewildered looks at her.
“What’s wrong?”, Ron asked.
“I – ”, she aspirated, ignoring Seamus and Lee who nearly fell upstairs, wondering in mid-walk why she had stopped, “Forgot – ”
“What did you forget?”
“I need to go back to the Great Hall.”, she gasped quickly.
“What did you – ”
“My brush.”, she blushed.
“Why did you have your brush down there with you?”, Harry frowned. “And how could you have forgotten it? I haven’t seen you taking it out. Are you sure it’s not in your bag?”, to please him, she peered inside.
“No. I – goodnight, you two.”
“Er – yes.”, Ron chuckled, staring after her as she ran back down. “Girls.”, he shook his head and they took the last stairs to the portrait which finally closed, but not without an exaggeratingly relieved sigh.
Getting out of sight in the corridor to a shortcut, she waited some seconds, listening attentively. They were still talking. She took a glance up the stairs whether Harry and Ron were gone and stepped out. A corridor down, the voices were getting louder. Hadn’t he just brought his students to the ship? And what was he –
“What do you want from me, Igor.”, his voice was definite, but obviously annoyed.
“We are friends!”
“Friends.”, a chuckle. “So that is what you think.”
Hermione bent over the banister and saw them entering the moving stairs. In almost the same moment, from above, a group of Beauxbatons girls came out of another corridor, desperately looking around.
“Severus – don’t ignore me – ”
“If I ignored you, would I then reply to your muttering?”, Snape grunted when they went further up. “You should have thought about that before you gave a damn about our relation in that courtroom. You should have thought about it years ago. Years, Igor. Eleven years and nine moths, to be precise. And now you come to me, telling me how terribly sorry you are. Almost. Twelve. Years.”
“But you must understand – they – they – ”
“What!”, he rushed around, his hair and cloak fluttering; Hermione could tell even from above that his expression was as menacing as it had never been before. “Don’t tell me what they would have done, Igor! Because, I, know!”, he hissed.
“Then you understand, do you?”
“No, I don’t! I would have rather sacrificed myself!”, somehow that sounded familiar to her.
“Talk is cheap. You weren’t in there.”
“I was in there! And I would have died before I’d betrayed you! I’d rather let the Dementors destroy me! If it interests you, I defended you in my trial until I left the room as a free man. You would have more probably seen me dead instead of yourself. Don’t tell me now, that you started caring for me again. Now, that an international event forced you to come here.”, he turned and stomped on.
“You didn’t come either. You knew where I was.”
“Did you even listen to a single word I just said?”
In the meantime, the girls upstairs had also developed a fierce tone in their French negotiation, pointing and waving and their brandishing resembled much the try to shoo away a swarm of insects. Snape stopped once more when Karkaroff pleaded in a language Hermione didn’t understand, but she believed it must be something like Bulgarian. It sounded a little different to how he had spoken to Krum though. Maybe a different dialect. To her surprise, Snape answered in the same language, apparently fluent. Though he kept walking, Karkaroff on his heels. Discussing in that language, they approached the spot where Hermione stood. Hastily she jumped back into the corridor to the Ravenclaw tower and behind a stone statue. Relieved, she heard them walk past, while footsteps came from above as well. Then Snape changed his language again, astonishing her even more.
“Bonsoir, Mesdames. Puis-je vous aider?”, she would have never thought that he knew more than English and probably some Latin terms that were necessary for Potion Making, but that there were actually two foreign tongues he spoke fluently, his pronunciation so well he could be taken for a native speaker –
“Ah – vous parlez Français, Monsieur?”
“Bel et bien.”
“Épatant! Alors, – ”
What the girl said then, was too fast and too complicated for Hermione’s little knowledge of French, but it sounded like she asked for the way to the Ravenclaw tower, only a bit too elaborate. She heard him giving them the information and adding some more sentences she didn’t understand. Then the girls already thanked him, wished the two Professors a good night and came walking past Hermione’s hiding place without noticing her either. There was a long silence out on the stairs. No footsteps, no words. The girls were out of earshot.
Hesitantly, Hermione tiptoed from behind the statue and peeked into the gigantic tower, up the torch-lit stairs. Karkaroff, in their position as tall as Snape, stood one step below – holding the other man. Snape had his arms wrapped around Karkaroff’s back likewise. His brows were narrowed with visible sadness, but his eyes were shut. Some bundles of his greasy hair slid over Karkaroff’s left shoulder when he buried his face in it, leaving only his pale forehead to be seen. Hermione heard a muffled sound she hadn’t expected at all: sobbing.
Completely stunned, she quietly paced back to the statue and leaned against the wall of the alcove behind, listening to Snape crying into his friend’s shoulder. No, she had not the slightest clue who that man who once saved her life really was and meeting with such a scene was the last she would have been prepared for. She knew now, that she wasn’t to believe anything he showed or said in public.
After what seemed like hours of standing in the dark alcove, blank eyes fixating the back of the statue with rotating thoughts, she heard them move. There was some sniffing and Karkaroff speaking with his apparently unavoidable accent, which was much more elongated than that of most of his students, she had come to notice in that little time, yet still closer to proper English than theirs. Though if she was honest, it was just an accent everyone would expect an exaggeratingly speaking man from Russia or somewhere else in the Eastern Bloc to sound like.
“I will not ask you to forgive me, Severus. I know my mistakes and cannot forgive myself either.”
“Don’t be silly.”, Snape aspirated softly, but his voice was shaking in the depth. “I forgave you ages ago.”
“B-but – ”
“Go back to your ship.”, he was calm again, alarmingly calm.
“Severus – ”
“Go, before I forget that there used to be something that could compensate any of your selfish errors. Go, before I forget that I had principles on whom to kill and whom to spare.”, Hermione’s heart leapt with shock.
“Severus – ”
“Should you wish that I actually forgive you, then never talk to me about it again.”
“But – ”
“If you want me to draw a line under it, you should as well. I don’t care whether you regret it or not. I can forgive you, though just as long as you don’t come whining at me about how bitterly sorry you are. That is no use for either of us. So go, before I lose my dignity.”
Hasty, slightly panicking footsteps. Karkaroff was gone.
~~#~~
“They are all actually quite handsome.”, Parvati giggled, like she did many times these days. “Don’t you think?”
“Maybe.”, Hermione sighed.
“Oh drop it, Parvati.”, Ginny murmured as they stopped at the end of the corridor before it would cross the arches around the Transfiguration Courtyard. “So Burbage actually bought two of those badges?”
“Yes.”, Hermione now beamed.
“Two. What’s she gonna do with the second?”
“I have no idea, but it means she really supports the cause.”
“If you say so,”
It was a Saturday morning in November, after their breakfast and the castle was so empty it could have been somewhen in the holidays already. Everyone was still at the hall, eating – and trying to get to know the foreigners better. A place Hermione actually craved for Parvati having stayed there. But the three girls had finished earlier and had therefore decided to take a little walk around. Yet all Parvati could speak of through her woollen Gryffindor scarf, was the Durmstrang boys.
“But you can’t deny, that Krum’s the best looking.”
“Just being curious – are you really losing your faculties so much that you don’t recall I said – ”, Ginny hissed but broke off. “You hear that?”
“What?”
“That’s – ”
They peered around the corner. A few yards down the left, two men were facing one another, clearly arguing. Hermione had believed they had settled it with that embrace, but it seemed, there was much more between them to be solved.
“I see no sense in doing this.”, Snape snarled. “How can you let yourself be so owned by a dream? I also have a dream that constantly keeps coming back, but that doesn’t mean I expect that girl standing in front of me any moment.”
“I am not owned, Severus. Just – warned. Don’t you see it? You must have noticed – ”
“Of course I have notice. I’d be totally dumb, wouldn’t I?”, Snape said stiffly. “Or a pig.”, he added grumbling.
“Then – ”
“Then what.”
“Tell him!”
“I won’t tell anyone a thing about this.”
“Why not?”, Karkaroff moaned. “He must get to know it, don’t you think?”
“No, I don’t.”
“But – ”
“Igor. Whatever this is, it is not as easy as you might think. Obviously, the years have made you naïve. Had ourselves some way too cold winters, had we?”
“I am not naïve, Severus. I am realistic!”, Karkaroff hissed. “We cannot just let this – person – run around here!”
“Oh, we can.”, he snapped. “There is something bigger to it than what you apparently think. And unless we know what exactly it is, we are not to intervene.”
“You are aware though, that horrible things could happen until you consider the moment to be right?”
“Rather like you, I have some control over certain situations.”
“Meaning?”, spat Karkaroff.
“I learned to watch from the shadows. It is a lot more useful than stomping into a party, roaring like a Giant.”, they just stared at each other. “Assumed, of course, it is not another Giant’s party.”
Silence. Then, Karkaroff lowered his head and chuckled. Snape just dropped his shoulders and eyeballed him with prodigious boredom.
“Look.”, he said, placing his hand on the other man’s cheek. “I can understand your concern, but whoever we are dealing here with, I assure you I can take care of the case. You know yourself that you’re not at your best anymore.”, Karkaroff meant to protest. “Don’t deny. I know it. I can see it in your eyes and it hurts me to recognise how much you have lost of your former resilience. But I cannot change it. I do not want to change it. That is life, I suppose. I will not tell you to go on. I will not force you to stick with me to the end. Yes, it has been your choice, but I won’t blame you if you give up on your own plan. I can walk this path on. It is on me whether I load it upon myself, as much as it is on you to do. Just mind that I don’t wish you to die trying to suppress exhaustion.”
He wiped back some of Karkaroff’s hair that had visibly grown longer over the last weeks and laid this hand on the other cheek as well, looking deeply into his friend’s eyes. Then he placed a single kiss on his forehead, not having to raise to his toes due to Karkaroff’s slightly collapsed figure. After a mutual moment in pondering silence, Snape pressed his right indexfinger onto the tip of the other’s sharp nose, then let it slide off, whereupon he playfully plucked his lower lip. While his expression became some sort of dazing emptiness, yet with a flicker of expectation, Karkaroff was merely confused.
“Why – what – was that supposed to achieve?”
“You don’t know?”, he breathed back, receiving only raised eyebrows. “You – really – ”, again he took a pause to think, this time clearly whether he should go further into it – and he did, very quiet and hard for the girls to catch. “There used to be days when you woke me early with your snoring. I figured that was one way to stop it. In addition, it made you wake up too. With such an extremely beautiful, drowsy smile, it felt like – in those moments – it felt like all the bad in the world was gone. It made me forget everything, made my little world whole. Such small moments, and yet they had so much power to them, I believed, if not you could drive evil away with that, what could.”
“I guess – ”, although Karkaroff’s lips curled, a flattered smile drifted onto them. “Well, maybe you should have told me that earlier. Then we could have smacked something like this into Bellatrix’s face. Just for the sake of making her go insane.”, his left hand still where it was before, he let his head sink onto the fur collar on the other side with a depleted huff. “I mean, if more insanity is even possible.”
“Don’t get me wrong, but it was you who made me realise how little I knew about the possible faces of insanity.”, Snape mumbled into the fur a little louder, the other’s fingers hooking onto his waistband at his sides, through his robe.
“And that from someone who goes cliff diving when you cannot even see the sea through the fog.”
“I knew where it was, and I knew the times of the tides. And besides, do I have to remind you, that it was you who had the brilliant idea to plant us – ”
“Да, да, да. And there we are, back again where we were. Where one idiot does not want the other to stop him from doing nothing.”
“I just don’t want you to jump onto what you don’t know could be a Flobberworm or a Manticore, simply because you are afraid a Lethifold would get you otherwise, while nobody knows in which part of the swamp that thing actually creeps.”
“You know, I hate it when you speak around matters in associations.”
“And you know I only do it when you won’t get it otherwise. I care too much for you, Gorij.”, he said softly, raising, with the right palm back on the other’s cheek as well. “Too much as to be able to let you ruin your life with fear. You can go anywhere you like to, any time. Just tell me and I will arrange things for you. No one will go looking.”, his hands glided down to Karkaroff’s shoulders and both sighed.
“You – you haven’t called me like that for a long time – ”, Karkaroff gargled and retrieved his fingers along with a desperate attempt to flatten the black fabric he had crinkled, which only resulted in a clumsy and awkward way of stroking blindly.
“Guess,”, Snape replied quietly once again, almost indifferent, “It’s been some time since you managed to get yourself busted up.”
“Don’t remind – ”
“Sorry. Seems, your dangerously sweet resentfulness casts some light on me.”
“What?”, the other gasped. “Uh – good or bad?”
“I – don’t know?”, Hermione somehow hoped that the sudden saucy tone with which he said that and the single brushing he gave Karkaroff’s silver hair was solely played, but it was enough to make the other girls’ eyes pop out – more than they had on previous moves – and hers too, she realised.
“That is not – what are you – ”, Karkaroff muttered as his face was pulled closer by a bundle of hair that was firmly wrapped around Snape’s left index finger now.
“Come.”, he said soft and calm again.
“Huh?”
“I think, I know something that might bring you on different thoughts.”
“Which would be?”
“You will see.”, he let go of the hair, turned on his right foot to go and froze for a moment. “Come.”, a hesitant smile at his friend slipped over his lips when he moved his left arm around Karkaroff’s back and pulled him with him.
Completely beside themselves, the three girls gazed after them, heavily flushed. Ginny and Parvati were confused. Hermione however felt guilty. She should have walked straight out with her friends and to the right, instead of spying on the men from the corner. It would have been much better, she understood. But she hadn’t and that made her angry with herself.
“What was that?”, Parvati aspirated when the two were out of sight.
“Something we obviously weren’t meant to see – ”, moaned Ginny.
“Definitely. But – he didn’t – he didn’t shout at us, did he? Doesn’t he normally – ”
“Maybe he really cares for him, as he said. Then it would only be logical that he didn’t want him to know they’ve been overheard.”, Hermione considered. “Come on. Let’s go.”, she walked into the direction she had just blamed herself for not having taken. “Just one thing,”, she added, the two following her. “We should forget what we’ve seen and heard.”
“Okay.”, Ginny said, though Parvati just gazed at them, some image of a hungry beast flicking up behind her eyes.
“This wasn’t supposed to have happened, so, we aren’t supposed to act like it has.”
“Oh.”, Parvati accepted woefully. “Alright.”
~~#~~
Deserted, the corridor laid there. Empty darkness, only lit by faint moonlight shining through the windows. Snowflakes drifted in through between the arches, carried by a cold breeze. Gazing into the snowy yard, Igor Karkaroff pulled his winter cloak of white fur close. Shortly before him to his left, Severus Snape leaned against a pillar, eyeing the other man in thoughts.
“It was mere luck, the boy survived.”, Karkaroff said. “I will not say he has no talent at flying, because he undoubtedly has, but it was luck the Dragon didn’t kill him.”
“You are such a turn off.”, Snape whispered, reached out and ran his fingers up under Karkaroff’s wide sleeves on his left forearm.
“Huh?”
“It is such a beautiful night.”, he grabbed the arm a little firm and pulled Karkaroff closer. “Do you really want to spoil it by talking about Harry Potter?”
“Oh. I am sorry. I forgot – ”
“There are so many better things we can do.”
“For example?”, Karkaroff threw a lusty smirk.
“I see, you understood.”
Snape’s left hand wandered up Karkaroff’s fur-covered chest, opening the golden clasps on its way and drifting beneath it when arriving at his collar. A stroke down and one back up, gliding further to his neck and cheek. There he brushed some of the silvery waves behind his ear, resting the thumb on the cheek and the other fingers in his hair. Karkaroff leaned forward against him and moved his right hand up Snape’s back, closing the little space between them as their lips met. With every move of them and their tongues, their passionate kissing intensified. Karkaroff’s left hand, the arm still held tight, was placed on Snape’s hip, under his robe, from where it slid down, turning as it approached a specific area. Some buttons were opened and the hand searched its way inside.
“Certainly, your teenage fantasies are very captivating to you, Miss Granger.”, his bored low voice close to her made her head zoom from the underwater window and at him with a shriek. “But they do not excuse neglect of your antidote, which has, if you allow me to note, meanwhile become useless.”
She shortly glanced into her bubbling cauldron, the liquid as red as her face, and shrunk behind it. Biting her lower lip, she gazed back up to him, her eyes narrowed with embarrassment.
“Five points from Gryffindor for daydreaming in my class.”, he gave the cauldron an emptying flick of his wand. “Five more for wasting ingredients and another five for the look you had on your face while you successfully combined both.”, he hissed. “An extraordinary achievement, Miss Granger. For once you have managed to get as low marks for something as Potter is used to, even considered that his antidote is already as poisonous as what it should stop.”, another flick, accompanied by Harry’s murmuring. “Five additional points off for inability to accept failure, Potter. Though I don’t see any reason for you to protest. After all, you have too many things to worry about now than winning the House Cup?”, he sneered. “But don’t think there is any more time to dwell in your woe. None of you.”, he pushed himself off from the table he had leaned onto and addressed the whole class now, right when the bell rang in the distance. “Christmas starts when I say it does.”, Ron gave a snort.
“Ow!”, he had received a nice little smack on the head with his own Potions book.
“Five more off, Weasley. Granger, be glad that I prefer to ignore the content of your – inner madness.”, Snape huffed and dropped the script. “And Slytherins, I expect each and every one of you to gather in your common room at nine o’clock. You got that bit of information, or do I need to burn it into your foreheads?”
“That was totally unfair!”, Ron moaned, robbing his head while they headed off to an abandoned classroom McGonagall had asked them to meet at, the day before.
“Since when has he ever been fair.”, grumbled Harry. “And what the heck were you thinking of?”, he said to Hermione.
“You don’t want to know.”, she gargled, her eyes straight forward into the hall they had reached.
“What’s that here?”, Ron chuckled.
The room was already crammed with Gryffindors, all from the fourth year up. They sat or stood at the walls, boys on the one, girls on the other side. The strange separation confused the trio. Right to the door was a crooked table, carrying a gramophone with a horn so gigantic it was a miracle the instrument didn’t break the table. But that was the greatness of magic. It didn’t bother the laws of physics at all. Mostly. Next to the table stood Filch, Mrs Norris to his feet. Understanding that they had to separate as well, they and the fourth-years who had caught up, joined their housemates. Shortly after, McGonagall entered, closed the big door and asked them for silence so she could shock half of the students with the news.
“I’ll kill her.”, Ron huffed angrily, two hours later. “I’ll so kill her.”
“Oh come on. You can’t deny, you enjoyed it.”, Fred grinned.
“Yeah. It was like magic!”, George sang. “You and McGonagall would make a truly lovely couple!”
“Shut up, you morons. She can’t. She just can’t force us to dance, can she?”
“Oh I think, she can.”, Hermione smirked. “And dancing is not that bad, actually.”
“Not that bad? I’d rather be back in Potions, and if he buries me under a hundred books pile! I’d even encourage that! It’d mean I wouldn’t have to go dancing!”, he moaned. “Blimey. D’you reckon, Snape does that too?”
“Does what?”, Harry frowned.
“Teaching the Slytherins how to dance?”
They all burst into laughter, only Hermione couldn’t fully join in. Had he actually seen what she had been imagining? If yes, she was definitely lucky that she escaped with a bad mark and loss of points.
“I mean, remember what he said at the end of the lesson?”
“What did he say?”, George asked.
“Ordered them to the common room. Told them to be there in the evening.”
“Really?”, Fred asked. “Gotta give it a try then, Harry, don’t you?”
“Honestly,”, Harry smirked, “As tempting as it may sound, I really don’t want to watch that. Even if Ron should be right about why he summoned them. Not even for the satisfaction of seeing Malfoy making a complete fool of himself.”
“You think there’s a possible enhancement of his usual behaviour?”
~~#~~
She took a checking glance over the banister. No one looked up to her. Hoping the room would be empty, she snuck up to the fourth-year-boys’ dormitory, finding it dark. Her wand given a flick, the bluish light shone over the four-posters and – a lot of mess. Snorting, her eyes drifted across the beds and eventually found Harry’s trunk next to one of those messes. Carefully, she walked towards it, opened it and – there it was. A little more hesitant, she took it and closed the trunk again. Then she put out the magic light and threw the Invisibility Cloak over. Concealed completely, she tiptoed out and down the stairs into the crowded common room.
To her fortune, it wasn’t that filled with people she couldn’t get past, and they all were busy enough to not see her climbing out through the portrait hole. For avoiding loud noises, she took off her shoes and put them into her big shoulder bag which she had emptied before. Even though she wore wool socks, she had to admit that the marble stairs were a bit cold. But she had a mission. Cold stones were the last matter to worry about.
Fifteen minutes later she arrived at a certain wall in the Dungeons. Due to having had to take a little detour because Peeves had blocked a corridor with old cupboards, leaving Filch and Moody with the task to remove them, five minutes too late. It was five past nine and the corridors were deserted. Stomping angrily on the floor, she gritted her teeth. Why did those Slytherins have to be punctual? But there was always the hope that someone would get late. Almost an hour later, she was close to give up that ridiculous hope.
Though suddenly, as if someone had finally received her wish, she wasn’t alone anymore. Rushing about, she saw two men walking around the corner, speaking in a language she didn’t understand, but had heard before. It was – Russian? Supposedly. She had caught Krum muttering to himself once and that had been completely different from how he spoke now. Krum’s moans had nothing too pleased to it either and Karkaroff was visibly upset.
They scudded down the corridor, stopping at the wall. Hermione had stepped aside already so they wouldn’t run into her. However, Karkaroff just stared at the wall and Krum at him. The student asked something, but Karkaroff’s only answer was a grunt. Hermione’s eyes gaped. They were in the same situation as she was. Neither knew the password. Or did –
“Cantankerus Nott?”, Karkaroff asked the wall and sighed with relief when the bricks moved to form an archway.
All three gazed into the underground hall. Pansy Parkinson shrieked with surprise, being stopped in mid-rotation when he saw them, but the boogie coming from a gramophone in the corner continued playing. Hermione had to quietly clap a hand on her mouth under the cloak. He had apparently just demonstrated something, like McGonagall had had every now and then during the lesson. Though Pansy seemed to know a lot more about dancing than Ron did. And the way – Hermione didn’t really dare to – spin – the thought on. It had just – it –
“Can I help you?”, he asked, dropping his hands and Pansy’s with them, letting go.
“I – wondered – uh – ”, Karkaroff stammered, high pitched, causing many of the Slytherins to break into subdued fits of giggling.
“Yes?”, Snape urged, but sounded in fact uninterested. “Do you want to take part in the dancing lesson?”
“Um – I – only – I – ”
“Cor blimey!”, he murmured. “Find words or get lost!”, Snape rolled his eyes. “Honestly, how old are you?”
“You know perfectly well how old I am!”, Karkaroff groaned, his normal voice back.
“Then stop acting like a Chinese school girl.”, snorted Snape.
“Hey!”, a sixth-year girl with clear Asian features hissed.
“Shut it. I know your parents are from Korea.”, he huffed just loud enough Hermione could catch it.
“I – ”, Karkaroff looked around, and continued in foreign tongue.
“And why should that bother me?”, the students gaped at him with serious confusion. “I believe we agreed, that this topic was off the table? So, unless you, as I asked, wish to stay and watch these clumsy ferrets fail at their first attempts to grow up, you may go back to your ship.”
“It is not as easy as this!”, Karkaroff protested.
“Strange. I don’t see any difficulty,”, he sharply waved his hand at the gramophone and the needle snapped up, silencing the music.
“But you have to see that this is happening!”
“I can see it, thank you. After all I was blessed with a pair of quite well functioning eyes. So, if you would, my students are far from being able to survive even two minutes in a dance.”, Karkaroff pouted, turned on his clacking heels and left Krum standing in the archway. “And what are you still doing here?”, Hermione got the peculiar impression that he was not looking at Krum, but directly at her.
“I – vould not mind a lesson, if I think about it, Sir.”
“Then come in.”, Snape sighed.
The bricks closed. Hermione hesitated for some moments, then she ran after Karkaroff, her feet muffled by the socks. He was faster than she had expected. It took her all the way up to the Entrance Hall to catch up with him, not only because the cloak was dangerously bulging up between her legs several times and she had to slow down for not falling over. She found him at the opened front gate, staring into the clear night. The moon wasn’t as full as it had been last night, but the light worked enchanting on the snow-covered yard. Despite having run, Hermione started to shiver from the cold.
Trying not to pant too heavily, she stepped behind a decorated suit of armour that luckily appeared ignorant to her clumsiness almost having knocked it over, pulled off the cloak and stuffed it into her bag. She then paced towards Karkaroff from behind. The man must have heard her breathing at least, as he turned around.
“What are you doing here, girl? Wait – aren’t you – that friend of Harry Potter?”
“I am.”, Hermione said, coming to halt in a respectful distance.
“What was your name again?”
“Hermione Granger, Sir.”, he nodded limply and turned his head back into the night. “I don’t want to be impolite, but – may I ask, how did you meet?”
“How did I meet what?”, Karkaroff looked at her again, a bit uncertain as she rummaged for her shoes and slipped them on.
“How you met – Professor Snape.”
“This is none of your business.”, he grunted.
“It is. So, would you tell me?”
“No, and no. If this is all you want from me now, I cannot help you.”
“You can, Sir. And I can keep secrets. I can take them to my grave, if I must.”, more than her shoes had, her confident expression drew his interest, or maybe it was only because she had taken a few more steps so she stood in front of him, parallel to the threshold.
“And why would you want to know?”
“Because he saved my life. He’s saved me from a number of Dementors last year. You’re his friend. Please help me to understand him.”
He curled his lips nearly as much as his goatee was, pondering for a while. Slightly fascinated, Hermione studied the moonlight reflecting in his blue eyes, making them appear like crystal gems. Along with his; not as massive as described in stories; silver hair and the white fur coat, his fair skin in the bluish white shine gave her the impression she was standing in front of Father Frost himself. There was no hint of his usual smile between his sharp cheekbones, let alone the lively grin – only the cold that had ever remained in those glistening eyes, now having conquered his whole face. As the pure light shone on it, she saw that his cheeks and nose carried a nice amount of pallid freckles she hadn’t gotten to notice before. She wondered how old he was indeed, as from her close distance, he looked a little too young for his hair to have lost its colour already.
“It was in summer nineteen seventy-eight.”, he said, yanking her from her considerations. “I had decided to leave behind everything and follow a mere hint on the chance I could meet my family – I moved to the north of Germany, to a place my parents had been said to live – a place full of narrow-minded Muggles. You see, I never knew my parents. I grew up in an orphanage and moved to the countryside once I was old enough to look after myself.”
“You lived all alone in the middle of nowhere? That must have been – ”
“What. What must it have been.”, Karkaroff murmured.
“Nothing. So? Germany?”
“Well, unfortunately, I only found their graves – and a stray dog biting me as I was about to leave the graveyard.”, he huffed at the memory of it. “I didn’t speak a word of German and none of the people there knew Russian or English or Swedish or any other language I could possibly get more than disgusted looks from them with. I could not even ask for – a – doctor – or the shortest way to the next hospital. On top, they all preferred to walk away than at least trying to help a wounded man in a once-in-a-century-rain. Everyone but him. He brought me to a back alley and made me sit down on some wooden boxes. As he examined the bite, he spotted the wand in my pocket sticking out a bit. Of course I noticed and wanted to hide it. But then he drew his.”
“So he – ”
“Probably saved my life, yes. He had said that the wound had become infected already.”
There was another long pause, and slowly, understanding began to form an invisible bridge, connecting their eyes in the half shadow. Karkaroff carried on.
“Although he recognised me and knew of my – uh – rather unpleasant reputation, he was kind to me. Arranged things so I could live in that hostel with him and his mother, who had fled from England as the situation got tense. You perhaps know – ”
“It was war.”, Hermione nodded.
“Yes. He as well had been living there for only two weeks yet, working at a florist’s.”
“He – worked at a – ”, her eyes widened.
“The only place he found work at in the Muggle world. He told me, that with the little Muggle money they had, he had bought his mother some of her favourite flowers to cheer her up. The shop owner spoke broken English, but they communicated via the Latin names of the flowers. That impressed her so much she decided to hire him. Together they managed to appoint me as an assistant of the village’s butcher. We had a wonderful time, despite the low standard. We had all we needed to be happy. Or so it was, until the end of the year though.”
“What happened?”
“The heaviest winter I have ever seen, and this means a lot. I have spent most of my young years up in northern Russia and Scandinavia. I used to be a student of the noble school that is now in my hands, you see. Severus’ mother went out into a snowstorm through a neighbour’s window when Ursula didn’t come. Ursula was the florist, you must know. We had asked her to come to our place, where she would be safe if the storm got stronger. But she did not turn up. So his mother went to look for her, but the snow was already high enough to cover the street up to the first floor. She must have used a tracking spell then, because that is the last her wand showed when we found it. She lost it when the roof of a glasshouse had given in, one of those heated ones that were supplied by a diesel generator, but that thing must have run out of fuel. She fell about nine feet, on the edge of a tray that held some flowers. It broke her backbone around her waist and she was buried under glass and snow.”
“Oh my god – ”, Hermione gasped, “Did – did she – ”
“Severus must have known that something was not alright. We went looking for her as well, in the same manner, and found her there, barely alive, and as cold as the ice around. Severus wanted to free her, but she – she pleaded him to abandon her and save himself. She – died in his arms.”
Hermione had had no idea that silence could actually hurt. But that following his words stabbed into her ears like the wild spears of a merciless army. She felt tears flooding her eyes. At the same moment, she saw Karkaroff’s becoming glassy.
“He tried to reanimate her, but she had left. The only reason he didn’t die as well, was because I covered us three with my cloak. The very same cloak I wear now. But it was little alleviation, as you might see. I sent a tracker for Ursula – it came back immediately – flashed – but did not change its colour. She must have been exactly beneath, and having had no chance. We didn’t stay long enough to get her body out as well. If you excuse me now, I am tired.”, Hermione only nodded. “I hope that helped you to understand him. Do not ever think bad of him, if he gets rough. His life wasn’t too pretty so far. Things that grow dear to him, tend to be ripped from his arms.”, he took a deep breath. “Good night, Miss – Granger.”
She could do nothing but watch him leave through the yard and over to the stairs leading to the docks, trenching the untouched new snow. The guilt rising in her was slowly eating her from inside. That her brain had created the image of those two men being – she was disgusted of herself.
Karkaroff was long gone, when she heard shuffling footsteps from behind. Though she couldn’t care less. Should they. Should they give her detention and take a million points from Gryffindor. Points mattered not a thing. The whole House-Cup-business was just a stupid game. A game to make children follow rules more voluntarily. A game away from the actual reality of life. The noise got louder, but she didn’t turn. If they wanted to do her down, they would anyway. But the voice that spoke, was nothing like she had expected.
“Vot are you doing here in the middle of the night, so alone?”, her eyes gaped and she spun around. “Are – are you not cold?”
“I – er – no – ”, she considered, blushing. “Not really.”
“Vould you like my cloak?”, he took it off and attempted to offer it to her. “It is really very cold here for someone like you.”
“Oh no.”, she waved him off. “I’m fine, thank you.”
“Then not.”, he sighed and hung it back on his shoulders. “Haff – haff you seen Karkaroff, by the vay?”
“Yes he – went to the docks.”
“Thank you. Uh – please do not think I vos – vot is this vrase? Sneaking around?”
“I don’t.”, Hermione smiled. “I’m sure you must have your reasons. I also enjoy the castle at night.”, she lied, but momentarily wasn’t sure whether it wasn’t the truth.
“You do?”
“Yes. It’s – all calm – and silent. Just – beautiful.”, she sighed, her artificial smile vanishing.
“It is. Like you.”, Hermione blushed more.
“Don’t say that.”
“It is the truth.”
“I – am charmed.”, she frowned with a smirk, relieved that he obviously didn’t see in that light that she had been crying.
“I am glad you are.”, he studied her for a couple of seconds and she suddenly noticed that there was some big ginger fluff by his legs.
“Crookshanks!”, she gasped. “What’re you doing here?”
“Is – is that your cat?”, Viktor’s look travelled between them.
“Yes!”
“He found me. Suddenly he vos there – and followed me.
“Seems he likes you then,”, Hermione chuckled, but was confused by Viktor puckering his lips.
“Feels more like he tries to find out if I am up to something,”
“Oh no, he does that with everyone he starts to like,”, she meant to convince him – or rather herself.
“You like reading?”
“Yes. I do.”, Hermione chuckled on the change of topic.
“You see, I often vatched you go to the library or sit around, reading.”
“I noticed.”
“You did?”
“Yes.”
“Oh. But I – I vos not spying on you, you know?”
“I believe you.”
“Thank you. Uh – you know, this ball thing – everyone is talking about – do you go there?”
“I wish I could.”
“Vhy? Are you not in the vourth year? I thought you – ”
“I am. It’s just – ”, he stepped a little closer, confusing her a bit.
“No one asked you?”
“Yeah.”, she stared at him.
“I vos actually hoping you say that.”
“Why?”
“Because – I vanted to – ask you – already in the moment I – heard about the ball. I only could – think of no vay to ask you. I – vos afraid you say – ”
“Yes.”, Hermione aspirated.
“You – ”, he blinked heavily, which made his thick brows flick.
“Yes.”, she beamed, not knowing what drove her. “Yes, I would absolutely like to!”
“That is – that is great!”
“Yeah.”
“Deffinitely.”, he sighed with relief.
“Definitely.”, her excited grin transformed to a warm smile.
“I am looking forward to it, Hermy-own.”, he hesitantly took her right hand.
“So am I.”, Hermione grinned when he placed a kiss on it.
“Good night, then.”, he smiled.
“Goodnight.”, she giggled and looked after him as he followed the path Karkaroff had dug into the snow.
A broad grin on her face, she took off her shoes and threw Harry’s cloak over again. Yes, that was life. The very present life where good and bad things followed one another at a constant pace. As constant as her running steps up through the fastest shortcuts. Waking an annoyed Fat Lady from her sleep, who fortunately didn’t look up whether there was actually someone standing in front of her portrait, Hermione hopped into the common room, still grinning, though a bit out of breath now. But her grin got stuck in mid-room when she felt the cloak being pulled off her from behind. Too shocked for a scream, she swirled around to see Ginny in the scarce bluish light, holding the shimmering cloak with an eyebrow raised.
“What the hell are you doing!”, she hissed.
“What are you doing here!”, Hermione hissed back.
“I saw you sneaking up the boys’ dormitory. What was so important, that you had to steal Harry’s cloak and wander around the castle at night?”
“I – had to check something.”
“Check.”
“Yes.”
“And? Does he give dancing lessons?”, Hermione’s mouth fell open. “Well, Fred and George kept urging Harry to sneak down all after you were gone. They thought he might agree once you were away and unable to tell him off, but he kindly refused. And I’m not stupid. I know that you’re after information about Snape, not just since we caught him and Karkaroff talking. So, does he give dancing lessons?”
“He – ”, Hermione aspirated perplexed, “Is a – marvellous – dancer – ”
“Whow. Really?”
“Yes.”
“Have you been watching all the time?”
“Um – yes.”, she lied. “But – want to know what?”
“What?”
“Please don’t tell anyone.”, she grinned and stepped closer so she could speak even more quiet.
“I won’t.”
“I – caught Viktor Krum wandering around in the castle too.”
“What?”, Ginny hissed doubtfully.
“But not what you might think. He really wasn’t up to anything. Though he – ”, Hermione bit her lips.
“Yes?”
“He asked me to the ball.”, she whispered into the other girl’s ear.
“And?”
“Well, I said yes, of course!”, Hermione sniggered.
~~#~~
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