Shadow and Light {Severus Snape x OC}

Chapter 4

Summary:

My name is Alice Mc.Garden and I feel like I could burst like a thousand suns.

Chapter 4

Two days had passed since the start of school, and on that Thursday morning, young Potter and Weasley were making their way to their Potions class. Harry seemed preoccupied by the absence of Hermione Granger that morning, but Ron was convinced she had simply fallen asleep on a book and missed breakfast—a rare occurrence, but it did happen, he added.

At that moment, young Granger appeared around the corner, looking very energetic, and hundreds of words were on the tip of her tongue. As she approached them, she finally let them spill out.

"I've done some research!"

"Big news! Hermione Granger indeed had her head buried in books doing re-search!" Ron said sarcastically.

"Ah-ah, if you're done being silly and ready to open your ears, you might be interested to know I learned more about our new professors!"

"Is that the topic of your research—P Hogwarts' new professors?" Harry asked with a laugh.

"Well... Yes, in a way. Now, would you mind just listening instead of interrupting?"

They fell silent, allowing the young girl to explain everything.

"Let's keep walking; I don't want to be late for class either..." she said as she led the way to the dungeons. "I did some research on Umbridge and Professor Mc.Garden... Given our previous years, I thought it might be interesting to learn more about them...

"So as to avoid being surprised by a death eater, a crazy man , or a werewolf? Yeah, I see the point..." Harry added.

"Exactly..." she said, rolling her eyes. "Well, I started with Umbridge, and honestly... I didn't learn anything we didn't already guess..."

They descended a few stairs.

"She's an envoy from the Ministry; she studied here... in Slytherin. She's a bureaucrat who's made quite a name for herself in the upper echelons of wizarding society... But she's not particularly good at everything she undertakes..."

"How do you know that?"

"I looked at her school reports..."

"You went that far just to find out more about a teacher?" Ron exclaimed.

"Ronald! Are you trying to inform the whole school about my investigations?"

Ron pursed his lips and signaled her to continue.

"Anyway... I don't have anything particularly new on this Umbridge; we shouldn't trust her and must stay on our guard... Not that I think I need to tell you that, Harry..."

He shrugged; that was indeed what he planned to do in the presence of Dolores Umbridge, having already felt the effects of her authority and perversion.

"What's most interesting in what I found concerns Professor Mc.Garden, or rather what I DIDN'T find."

Harry furrowed his brows, while Ron seemed to have missed the subtleties of what Hermione had just said—if there was any subtlety at all.

"I first searched for her school records, but there was no trace of her in the school's registers... I figured she might come from Beauxbatons or Durmstrang... or another school altogether. So I continued my research, and since Harry saw her at the Ministry with Umbridge, I thought I'd start there..."

They arrived in front of the Potions classroom and entered. The class began just like all their Potions classes had over the years, and when a moment presented itself, Hermione resumed her explanations as if there hadn't been a nearly 30-minute interlude.