Disclaimer: never did and never will own it. J.K. Rowling does.
Spoilers: Goblet of Fire

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~ A Taste Of Silence - Dark Spell ~

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It should have been a Hogsmeade weekend. It should have, except that for Severus, weekends had nothing specific and Hogsmeade weekends fell in that same category. So, on the Saturday morning, Hermione was with the Potions Master in the classroom. She looked at him, patiently waiting for him to tell her what the project was about. Somehow, though concerned about her plight, Severus couldn’t help but enjoy this moment: for once, Gryffindor know-it-all was not asking one of her annoying questions.

He put a jar on the table. Hermione squinted, trying to guess what it was. She had never seen it before; it didn’t even look like the jars he usually had. The seal was heavy, of wax and iron. She reached to touch it, but he stopped her.

“It’s a dark spell,” he admitted, quite uneasily. “It contains the… your tongue.”

He saw her mouth ‘Ice?’ and shook his head.

“This is a bit more specific. I can conserve it indefinitely and it has some more characteristics.”

She raised an eyebrow in polite interest, not wanting to push the issue and force him to tell her. He leaned on the desk and began his lecture – except that his voice was less harsh than in class.

“The spell name is Magna Transitio. I trust you are familiar with the notion of voodoo?”

She nodded, her eyes full of questions.

“Magna Transitio is similar to voodoo rituals in some ways. You… you need a piece of someone, like a finger, or something like it. You cast the spell on it and you can affect the person it belonged to before. For example…”

He took off the seal, muttering words under his breath. Black and shiny rocks filled the jar, disposed in neat layers, the holes between them filled with a dark green solution. On top of them, the shrivelled tongue.

“If I touch it…”

He brushed his fingertip against the bit of flesh and Hermione started, feeling a caress in her mouth. She opened her eyes wide, looking at him. He smirked.

“You should feel something,” he concluded.

She glared at him and he noticed he was enjoying this game a little too much.

“Naturally,” he drawled, “if this spell is skilfully cast – and, believe me, I know how to cast properly spells, even dark spells – it allows to affect more than just the place the item was before. If I do this…”

Once again, he ran his finger on the tongue in the jar and for Hermione, it felt as if he was trailing his index down her neck. Shivers ran down her spine as she locked her eyes with his.


~*~


He slightly shook his head before resuming his explanation.

“As you can see, Magna Transitio is very powerful. The target of the spell is entirely under the control of the spell-caster.”

She raised her eyebrows at him and he chuckled.

“Miss Granger, you surprise me. I just told you that you are under my control and you act as if you didn’t care – or else as if you trust me. You should not be so trusting. After all, you are a Gryffindor and I am a Slytherin.”

She shrugged and mouthed ‘What next?’. He shook his head again, a bit surprised that he was able to read her lips so easily.

“What next? Miss Granger, surely you guessed by now. We will try to find a potion to counter whatever the Silentium Charm did to your tongue. I already did some research, purely theoretical, naturally. Unfortunately, we will not be able to experiment with your tongue; we don’t wish to damage it further, do we?”

She shrugged again.

“Miss Granger, I have the suspicion you don’t care for recovering the use of your voice. Is it true?”

A nod. A cold hand gripped Severus’s heart.

“Mind to explain why to me? I may not be the perfect person to confide in, but after all, I am the subject of your reluctance. It might be of interest to me to know why.”

She shook her head.

“How long do you intend to sabotage the research to delay it?” he asked, looking intently at her.

She bit her lower lip, worrying it between her teeth, then returned his gaze and mouthed ‘Graduation’. His eyes widened before narrowing.

“Miss Granger, it’s impossible for us to delay it for so long,” he said gently.

She nodded and he could see in her eyes that she knew it, but that she had hoped against all odds.

“Furthermore, the more we wait, the more the spell grows strong. For items conserved long enough, not only the person the item once belonged to is controlled, but also his or her descendants. Do you really want to risk this, to leave your fate that long in my hands?”

He was watching her lips like a predator watched his prey. What was she going to say? The words surprised him and it took him some time to figure them out. ‘I trust you’. With a brief laugh, he walked on her.

“You trust me? Foolish girl, do you know what I have done?”

She nodded shyly. His hands fell on her shoulders.

“Don’t you know then what I can do to you? And yet you trust me?” he said, his face only inches from hers.

She mouthed ‘Remember Draco’. He laughed again.

“I’m faster than Mr. Malfoy, Miss Granger. But yes, I remember. I didn’t know you were so advanced in wandless magic. Anyway, Miss Granger, maybe you should reconsider your position. I do not need to be protected.”

She glared at him and letters of fire appeared between them, just in front of his nose. He forced himself to remain still and read the words.

“Maybe I do.”

“And you want me to protect you?” he asked in a breath, leaning toward her.

To her credit, she didn’t move an inch, simply returning his gaze. He had a small smile and straightened.

“Miss Granger, we have nothing in common, nothing you could know that would require you to hide it to protect the both of us. So you should stop this charade at once. Maybe you could use the parchment over my desk and write down whatever the answer to Black’s question was so Albus will let me in peace.”

“No.”

“I could use the Imperius Curse on you, Miss Granger. And then you would have to do anything I want you to do.”

She walked to the desk and took the quill. He came behind her and read above her shoulder.

“I would cast Stupefy on myself rather than write a single word about this stupid question.”

Severus sighed and rubbed his nose.

“Never underestimate a lioness defending her cubs… Though in this case, Miss Granger, I really wonder who you consider your cubs to be.”

Her answer was to smile at him and he scowled when he became aware that he regretted to have threatened her with one of the Unforgivable Curses.


~*~


They replaced one of the wandless magic lessons by the research on the potion that could reverse the Silentium spell. During the other lessons, Severus let Hermione learn by herself, since she had proven to be dedicated enough on her own. Strangely though, on Monday – when they researched the potion together – she was dedicated as ever, but on the other days, when he was researching on his own, she would come regularly to him, to ask questions, and generally make him lose the thread of his thoughts. It didn’t matter if he threatened to take points from her, or detentions, she would continue, bearing his outbursts with her shoulders a bit hunched, her eyes pleading. And he would simply let go.

He didn’t understand himself why he was acting so. Certainly he couldn’t approve of her decision to sabotage his experiments for hiding her secret, but on the other hand, he was quite admiring of her stubbornness. Several times, briefly, he wondered how long she could last against the Dark Lord.

He was working on his own when the door of his laboratory burst open.

“Snape, I can’t believe it! You’ve been working two weeks on the potion! Are you incompetent? Can’t do anything to counter a mere silencing spell?”

Calmly, Severus continued measuring his ingredients.

“Black, the Silentium Charm is different from the Silencing Charm. The Silencing spell negates all sounds. The Silentium spell is more… physical. The numbness it creates allowed Miss Granger to sever her own tongue without too much pain. Had she used the Silencing Charm, I would not have to research for a potion. The Silentium Charm is rarely used and the side effects are not known. I think we just discovered one.”

Sirius stilled and, quietly, his voice hollow, asked:

“Why do you think she used the Silentium rather than the Silencing spell?”

Severus looked up briefly and was almost shocked by the guilt lying openly on Sirius’s face.

“Probably because she wasn’t sure a Silencing spell would be enough to counter-act the Veritaserum. Black, stop torturing yourself. Though she admits the question was stupid, I don’t think she’s angry with you.”

“She lost her Head Girl position because of me and lost it to a Slytherin!” said Sirius bitterly. “She’s mute and can’t study Transformation and Charms anymore. And you expect me to believe she’s not mad at me?”

“Yes. Obviously, her secret was very important to her. The current situation is a sort of solution to her problem. Now she can’t talk about it anymore and I daresay that she approves of it.”

Sirius snorted, but Severus could hear the despair behind it. He was about to tell him to go speak with Hermione – cursing fate who was making him be nice to Sirius! – when Hermione herself appeared behind Sirius.


~*~


He cringed immediately and tried to hide in the shadows. She saw him, stopped where she was, and raised her brown eyes to him. Sirius blanched again, looking as if he was about to faint.

“Hermione… I–”

She put her hand on his mouth and gently shook her head. She looked at Severus and mouthed something. Once again, he found himself concentrating on her lips rather than on his potion ingredients. He sighed.

“She says you should stop to worry. She’s not mad at you.”

Hermione added something else and Severus’s frown was belied by the twitching of his lips.

“Oh, and she says that it was really a childish question.”

Sirius looked crestfallen. Hermione smiled and put her hand against his cheek. Severus felt some difficulties to ‘translate’ her next words.

“Do grow up a bit, Sirius. You – we – are now adults and we are on the same side. I guess the message is for me as well,” he added wryly.

“I’m sorry, Hermione,” Sirius murmured, closing the eyes.

Without caring for Severus, Hermione reached for Sirius and pulled his head down against her shoulder. Something broke inside of him and he enfolded her in his arms, crying tears of guilt and relief at her forgiveness. She rubbed his back, gently, comfortingly, until he calmed down.

He gently disentangled himself from her embrace and, without bothering to hide his swollen red eyes, came toward Severus who seemed suspiciously dedicated to his potion. Sirius extended his hand.

“She’s right, Snape… Severus. I was an idiot. Let’s start again with a blank slate, shall we? I promise I’ll stop the stupid pranks and the taunting.”

Severus looked at him for quite a long time before taking the offered hand and shaking it.

“Maybe some good will come out of all this, finally. Deal, Sirius.”

“For her to smile again, I’d do anything. And if what it takes is being civil with you, then so be it.”

Severus looked at Hermione, still standing by the door, and nobody could have been mistaken by the gleam of sheer joy in her eyes and smile.

“And I guess you’re proud of yourself, Miss Granger?” he asked tartly.

Her smile broke into a huge grin and she nodded enthusiastically. He scowled and Sirius let out a shaking laugh.


~*~


“Was there any reason for you coming today, Sirius?” asked Severus, bending his head toward his cauldron.

“Actually, yes. I had a talk with Poppy and she’s not very keen on using magic to heal Hermione’s tongue. She says that there may be remnants from the spell and she doesn’t know the effect it can have.”

Severus went very still.

“Then what?”

“Harry suggested Muggle surgery. It should take them something like two hours to reattach it.”

Severus nodded.

“Very well. We will alert her parents as soon as I found a way to reverse the effect of the Silentium Charm.”

Sirius took the hint and left the room after a brief kiss on Hermione’s brow. She remained behind, looking at Severus cutting some root. He looked up at her.

“I’m sorry, Miss Granger. I won’t be able to delay the research any longer now. I think I can reasonably stretch it over two weeks without putting my abilities as a Potions Master in question.”

Her lips mouthed her understanding, but he didn’t like the darker shade her eyes had taken. He had the impression that she was already thinking of new ways to delay the moment she would have to speak again and he knew she would find some. After all, she was not the brightest young witch of the century for nothing.