Rescue in the Night

Snape was already in a surly mood that night. Upon his arrival at the apothecary in Hogsmeade on his way back from Diagon Alley, where he had spent the night, he had discovered that the apprentice who had taken his special order the week before had gotten it wrong. Idiot! What was he supposed to do with a barrel of frog tongues? Nothing! That was what.

Now he was on his way back to Hogwarts Castle to report the latest Death Eater activities to Dumbledore and to finish putting his potion labs in order for the summer holiday. He was so intent on reaching the castle that was now in sight, that he failed to watch where he was going.

The esteemed Potion master's mood got worse when he tripped over something. Cursing, he picked himself up and examined the obstacle in the road. A coffin! What jerk left a coffin in the middle of the road for people to trip over? Didn't they cost enough to prevent people from carelessly leaving them lying around?

His angry oaths were cut short when noises of distress started to come from the coffin. To Snape, that meant two things. One: someone was inside the coffin and his tripping over it had alerted whoever it was to his presence, and two: it was a used coffin. Those were usually a bit cheaper than new ones, and slightly illegal.

Cautiously, Snape pulled his wand from his cloak and pointed it at the coffin. For all he knew, the coffin could be a dangerous trap or a practical joke courtesy of the Weasley twins. Same thing.

One simple spell later, the nails holding the coffin shut were gone and the lid abruptly popped off to reveal a very distressed Hermione Granger who immediately sat up and locked her gaze on Snape. "Professor! I'm so glad you're here!"

Snape looked at Hermione with shock. Both Harry and Dumbledore had written her off for dead- Dumbledore two days ago and Harry just that morning. Fudge had filed an indictment accusing Harry Potter of capital murder the day before for all the good that it would do. "How did you get here, Granger?"

"They locked me in the coffin and took me here, Professor." Hermione said, bursting into tears. "I thought for sure that they were going to bury me alive!"

"Well, we can't have that, now can we?" Snape said snidely. Potter had been very concerned about her disappearance. Personally, if he were Potter, he would have felt that it was good riddance.

Hermione looked at Snape reproachfully. "You could be a little more polite to a female in distress, Professor."

"Whatever." Snape growled. "Get up and I'll take you to the castle. Professor Dumbledore has already sent your things along to your parents due to the end of term."

The mention of Dumbledore seemed to startle Hermione as she stiffly stood up, stretched, and stepped out of the wooden box. Before Snape could ask what she was thinking, she spoke. "Yes, we must get to the castle! Harry is innocent and I have to tell everyone before they alienate him any further than they already have!"

"I don't know if it's humanly possible to accomplish that." Snape said sarcastically as they slowly made their way to Hogwarts. When they arrived, they found that Filch was the only person at the castle for the night.

Feeling very much put upon, Snape escorted Hermione to the Hospital wing which seemed rather empty without Madam Pomfrey and had Hermione lay down in one of the beds. He left her there for fifteen minutes in order to retrieve some sleeping potions from the dungeons.

When he returned, he found that she had taken the initiative to change into a hospital gown. He had not thought of that. It was a good thing she had though, Madam Pomfrey would have had his head for such a misdemeanor. "Drink these." he commanded, setting two vials on the bedside stand.

"What are they?"

"One mild sleeping potion and one 'soothing' potion." Snape answered, slightly miffed that he was being questioned. "They'll help you get a good night's rest and will hopefully calm your nerves."

She took the two vials from the stand and drank the contents of each. Within minutes, she had fallen into a deep slumber. Snape watched with his cold dark eyes until he was sure that the potions had taken their full effect.

What he had told her was essentially true, aside from the fact that the sleeping potion was stronger than even the Dreamless Sleep Potion and therefore not classified as 'mild.' The other potion 'did' soothe, but it also added strength and order to memories. That potion was commonly used on distraught witnesses in criminal trials.

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