Remember by Snapes_Goddess

Careful What You Touch

Chapter One: Careful What You Touch

Severus Snape sat in a rather uncomfortable chair and tried to focus on what Headmaster Dumbledore was saying, but he was failing miserably. His head ached, the throbbing, burning pain beginning to grow steadily as he sat there.

He glanced askance once more to the young witch standing on the other side of the open door to Dumbledore’s office.

She had passed in front of that door at least a dozen times already and Severus couldn’t decide if she was snooping or just restless.

Hermione was bored. She had come to the conclusion that with the war over she would most likely perish from pure, unadulterated boredom.

She sighed as she paced the perimeter of the Headmaster’s waiting room and examined his vast collection of clocks and hour glasses.

He seemed to have a preoccupation with time.
She could hear Professor Dumbledore talking with Professor Snape inside the office but could not discern the topic of their conversation.

She reached up and was just about to run her fingertip over a cuckoo clock when the vicious little bird popped out and tried to bite her finger. She hopped backwards a bit and squealed slightly, pulling her hand to her chest protectively.

“Be careful what you touch Ms. Granger, not all things are what they seem.” Dumbledore called from his office.

Hermione glanced over her shoulder and saw the headmaster smiling at her, that odd twinkle in his eye. Professor Snape looked pained and annoyed as he glared at her.

“Yes, sir.” Hermione mumbled, looking back up at the clock, the bird squawking at her before disappearing back inside.

She frowned and slowly walked away, focusing her attention on a large table littered with hourglasses of every shape and size.

She cocked her head to the side and looked at the smallest of the hourglasses.

It was a mixture of silver and gold. Gold lions with ruby eyes supported one end and silver serpents with emerald eyes the other. It wasn’t pretty and Hermione found herself baffled that anyone would want to own something so ugly, but then again in the wizarding world people collected odd things.

She gasped softly and blinked her eyes rapidly. The little hourglass shook slightly and one of the lions winked at her. She reached out hesitantly and picked it up, running her fingertip gently over the carved creatures and pricking her finger on the fang of one serpent.

“Ouch!” Hermione hissed, sucking on her injured finger.

She noted that the sand inside the hourglass seemed to shimmer unusually and turned the hourglass over, starting the timer. One small grain shifted through the funnel at a time.

“What an odd little timer.” Hermione said, shaking her head.

A strange buzzing began to sound in her head and muffled all other sound. She turned slowly, still clutching the hourglass in her hand as she looked towards the office door.

Professor Snape fell from his chair to his knees clutching his head between his hands as the Headmaster leaned over him, one hand resting on the man’s shoulders.

He looked up at Hermione, the knowing smile on his face and that blasted twinkle in his eye told her she had done something, something that was affecting the Professor.

Suddenly she felt a burning, tingling sensation along her arms and legs, her hair began to lift along with the fabric of her robes. Her eyes widened, panicked as she stared into the office, trying to scream for help but no sound emerged. She saw Dumbledore wave just before she was sucked up and into a black void that had formed above her head.