Amour

LEGILIMENS

Inside his room Snape poured Hermione a glass of water,but she finished that so quickly that he poured her another one."What did Dumbledore tell you?"Hermione asked ,once her thirst was quenched.Snape paused to sigh,"You noticed that Dumbledore had been ignoring you and I told you that he had his reasons.Well,the reason is that he's afraid there might be a connection between The Dark Lord and your minds."Hermione was confused,"What do you mean by that?"Snape sat down next to her to explain,"On that fateful night He tried to murder you in your crib,when your mother cast herself in between the two of you,the power of love,saved you and His curse rebounded."Hermione nodded,"Yes.Dumbledore explained that to me before."Snape continued,"But when He was forced to leave his body,his powers horribly weakened,some of his powers were infused into you.That is why you can talk to snakes Hermione.And probably do lots of other things that He can do.After what happened last year,the priori incantatum,the joining of your wands,because of that maybe the connection grew stronger.You can see what he's doing by gaining access to his mind unconsciously.Whether he is aware of the fact is at the moment unclear.Pray he remains ignorant."Hermione tried to think,"So you mean,if he knows about this,he will be able to read my mind?""Read it,control it,unhinge it.In the past it was often The Dark Lord's whimsy to invade people's minds.He produced visions designed to torture them into madness.He probed on till they were literally begging for liberty from the last exquisite ounce of agony.Only then would he finally kill them."Snape said gravely.Hermione gave a little whimper which made him to clasp her hand."Don't be afraid.That is why Dumbledore asked me to give you lessons on Legilimency."he said assuringly."How is that going to work?"Hermione asked."It is a form of magic that allows one to access or influence someone else's mind.The Dark Lord is one of the most powerful legilimens in the world.But with legilimency one can also stop another from accessing one's mind.In these lessons I will attempt to penetrate your mind and you will attempt to resist."he said.Hermione was surprised,"You can do legilimency?"Snape nodded,"I have somewhat of a reputation in that field.But I don't do that usually...it's not nice to read someone's thoughts or access one's deepest darkest secrets without permission.It's not good manners."She was impressed and rather hopeful that their lessons would come to fruition.But again she started thinking about her visions."Does Dumbledore think that my actions are controlled by Voldemort?Is that why he refused to share information about the Order with me?To prevent Him from knowing about it?"she asked."He thought it better if you did not know."Snape admitted.The wheels in Hermione's brain were now in motion,"Sirius said that Voldemort may be after something-something he didn't have last time.And again,when I saw Him command his snake to fetch Him something from the department of mysteries at the Ministry.What is it that he wants?What more are you not telling me?"she asked searching Snape's face.He couldn't tell her,not without Dumbledore's permission.So he said,"It's you,of course.You are the only thing standing between him and his ultimate success."Hermione was somewhat convinced,but she wondered why her,this particular mudblood;why Voldemort chose a perfectly ordinary muggle family,where a witch happened to be born,why did he choose to ruin their lives forever.Snape decided to give Hermione an idea of what legilimency was about and proceeded to show her by reliving the dream she had had earlier on that evening.Though it was a little agonising,she let him slip into her mind.He saw what she had seen and experienced her trauma.She witnessed His merciless nature not once but twice.She is such a young girl...No wonder she was frightened out of her skin!He slipped back out and Hermione messaged her temples."When I saw Mr.Weasley being attacked,I wasn't just watching.I was the snake.I felt our actions to be mirrored.And back in Dumbledore's office,there was a moment when I wanted to....to..hurt him."Snape listened to her carefully.She gestured with her hands trying to convey to him how she was feeling,"You were right.My temper is going out of my control.I used to be so calm and composed.I never would have reacted like I did to Umbridge had I been my usual self.I feel so angry...all the time.I don't know..but I'm afraid maybe I am fedup of trying to be my best self and  maybe I've decided unconsciously to be damned with everything.This connection between me and Lord Voldemort...does this have an effect on how I'm behaving?What if after so many years of fighting with Voldemort,something has gone wrong inside me?What if I'm becoming more like Him?What if I'm becoming bad?"Snape put a comforting hand on her shoulder and looked deep into her eyes,"Hermione,you are not a bad person.You are a good person,in fact the most wonderful person I've ever had the pleasure of being acquainted with,to whom bad things have happened.The world is not divided into good and bad people,we all have our shades of grey.It's the path of right or wrong that we choose to act on that really defines us."He thought that who better to tell her this than he himself.He,who chose a path and that has made all the difference."Your parents were ruthlessly taken from you.You were forced to spend your days in an abusive household.Your childhood was overshadowed by the hooded figure of evil.You have been pursued by the devil constantly and yet you chose to run away from it.Instead of succumbing to the dark forces you chose to fight it.You chose the harder path over the easier one,you chose right over wrong.You chose to fight for what you believe in.You chose to fight to avenge your parents,you fight for friendship....and for love.And that tells a lot about you Hermione."He said smiling encouragingly.Hermione looked at him and her eyes twinkled.She rested her head on his shoulder and he put his hands around her and stroked her arm.Then she brought her lips to his and he kissed her tenderly.They were lost in the feeling of having each other for support when they heard the door being opened."What the hell do you think you're doing?!How dare you!"They jumped up to see Umbridge.The door was ajar and so was her mouth.She had taken one look at Hermione's sweaty clothes and unkempt hair and jumped to the worst conclusion.And the fact that she had just caught them kissing served as petrol to the flame.Snape stood up in rage,"How dare you enter my room without taking permission?Haven't you heard of knocking?""What,knock and miss out on witnessing a live display of fornication?!I have the authority to check on whoever and wherever I please.To question my authority would be to question the Minister himself and by extension the Ministry of the wizarding world.Huh!I knew something was cooking but not this!This adultery!"Umbridge grinned wickedly,extremely proud of herself."Hold your tongue!"Snape roared but Hermione stopped him.Instead she pleaded,"Please Ma'am.We weren't doing anything!We didn't have s-""The both of you would follow me to Professor Dumbledore's office straight away.You can kiss your job and your places at Hogwarts goodbye."she said and lead the way.They both agreed that it would be better to sort it out in front of Dumbledore and thus followed suit.Hermione was extremely embarrassed.It's not as if Dumbledore didn't have enough problems from her that she was forming more.She feared,what if Dumbledore was somehow convinced by Umbridge that they had been indeed engaged in coitus;so she fussed over her appearance.Snape saw that and firmly held her hand to stop her from doing that,while walking down the corridor.They had done nothing wrong and he refused to have anyone believe otherwise.He threw his chest forward and walked confidently.Umbridge gave him a sideways look."Look at you,walking all tall and proud,as if I just haven't caught you in an uncompromising position!"she grunted.Snape muttered through gritted teeth,"'Uncompromising position'?Not that's it is any of your business but if you must know,we were just kissing.For your information,we have been a couple for the last one and a half years.Surely a couple is allowed a little private time?And it is not that she is fooling around with random boys.I am a reputed teacher-""A teacher-student relationship,you said it yourself.That is simply unacceptable.And you have been at it for the past year and a half?Why wasn't I informed about it before?I didn't know.."Umbridge shook her head in disbelief and Hermione said under her breath,"There are a lot if things you don't know." and Umbridge snapped at her,"What's that?"but Hermione shook her head pretending she was just afraid to face Dumbledore.After they reached the office Umbridge broke into a tirade about how she had caught them redhanded,how shameful was this pedophilia according to her,and even suggested them to take a good look around as it might as well be their last night in the castle.Hermione launched in their defense but Snape explained the situation more calmly.Dumbledore listened to them with an amused expression on his face which made Umbridge go even redder in the face.In the end Dumbledore threw any possibility of their expulsion from Hogwarts in the air and  she was made to note that the couple,who were very much in love,had his and the rest of the staff's full support and they were to spend time together even more,what's with Snape giving Hermione extra lessons on legilimency for personal reasons.Umbridge looked disapprovingly at them and grumbled on her way out but Hermione and Snape were relieved that she had budged and didn't form any further discrepancy."She really tried to give us hell.."Hermione remarked on their way back."A person like her would never understand what we have.Together.The purest,most divine kind of love."Snape commented,kissing her knuckles and Hermione was truly glad she had him.