The Burning Pen

A New Beginning
by Ruth Solomon

The story content is adult in nature and can contain graphic sex and violence.  Those under the age of 18 are asked to leave this site immediately.  You are not welcome here.  The author is not responsible for those under-aged who view these works.

CHAPTER 13

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 13 ~ WTF???

Hugo was wrong. Hermione didn’t have bugbears, she had a full battalion of fire-breathing dragons.

”What the HELL were you thinking Rose?” she yelled at her daughter as both she and Hugo sat on the couch in the living room, looking properly ashamed.

It wasn’t working.

“I just wanted to see how good my ward-breaking skills were, mum,” Rose replied, her eyes glistening.

“You could have gotten your brother killed!” Hermione yelled, then she looked at Hugo.

“Did she unward your brain as well? What the hell were you thinking climbing up that high, Hugo? Your father died in a fall!” she said to him.

Hugo looked at her miserably.

”I’m sorry, mum,” he said sullenly, “I just wanted to see how high I could go.”

Hermione scowled at him.

”It’s obvious now, isn’t it? High enough to get yourself killed. Now your wands. Both of them,” she said, holding out her hands.

Hugo and Rose handed them over.

“From now on, no wands for you two. You can’t be trusted,” Hermione seethed.

Hugo and Rose just looked at her for a moment.

”But mum, what about whoever saved me? Do you know who it was?” he asked his mother.

Hermione calmed somewhat. She hadn’t even thought about it because she was so angry at her children. All she registered was Hugo falling off the mountain.

”Tell me what happened again … no …wait,” she said, moving closer to Hugo and pocketing their wands, then pulling out her own.

”Legilimens,” she said.

Hermione watched what happened, Hugo climbing up the mountainside while Rose screamed at him to come down. Hermione’s heart thudded as she saw how high he climbed. Then suddenly he fell.

Hermione watched in horror as Hugo plummeted downward, then suddenly he stopped, his arms wrapped around a shimmer.

”Who are you?” Hugo asked.

”Stay off the mountain you idiot boy before you kill yourself!” a silken voice hissed.

Hermione pulled out of Hugo’s mind. She was white as a sheet.

”No. No, it couldn’t be,” she said in a low voice.

”What mum?” Rose asked her mother, both she and Hugo alarmed at her change in color and the wild look in her eyes.

Hermione looked at her children as if she’d never seen them before, then she looked around her apartment, then at her desk were her notes were laid out. She looked back at Hugo and Rose.

”You’re both going to have to go stay at the Burrow with your grandmother and grandfather,” she said to them.

”What? No, mum. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I won’t climb the mountain anymore. I’ll stay inside the whole time,” Hugo said, pleading with Hermione.

But Rose was staring at her mother. She instinctively knew this was about more than Hugo’s near-fatal accident.

”Mum, are we in danger?” she asked her mother.

Hermione looked at her.

“I don’t know, Rose, but I want you and Hugo to get all your things together. I’m going to contact Bartleby and get permission for you to leave immediately.

Rose looked at her mother.

“Come with us, mum. If something’s going on here, you’ll be all alone,” the witch said.

Hermione shook her head.

“I’ll be fine, Rose. I just need you and Hugo to go. I’ll contact you in a couple of days,” she said, “Now go get your things together.”

Rose and Hugo obeyed their mother, though Hugo dragged his feet.

“I told you not to tell her,” he hissed at Rose.

“Hugo, this is about more than you falling off that mountain. Mum knows something,” Rose said.

Hermione quickly wrote a letter to Bartleby asking for emergency permission to send her children away. She called Eli, who instantly appeared and told him to get the letter delivered immediately.

“I need an answer right away, Eli. I need permission to send my children to their grandmother’s house,” Hermione told him, impressing the importance of this.

”Yes, Miss,” Eli said, winking out.

Rose and Hugo returned to the living room, everything miniaturized. Both looked upset. They were about to become more upset.

”Hugo, you and Rose are to tell NO ONE what happened today. Not about the mountain and definitely not about being saved,” Hermione told them, “I can’t stress how important this is. Tell your grandmother that some very important and potentially dangerous work came up and I felt it safer if you two stayed with her. I will write her later myself. Do you understand me…you can’t tell anyone!”

Hugo and Rose looked at their mother worriedly. Why couldn’t they tell anyone? Molly was going to question them to pieces trying to find out what the dangerous project was Hermione was working on.

”Promise me you won’t say anything,” Hermione demanded of the children, her eyes hard.

Hugo swallowed. He had never seen his mother act this way before. It was as if their lives depended on their silence. He hoped that wasn’t the case.

”All right, mum. I won’t tell anyone, but will you let us know what’s going on?” he asked her, “I’m kind of scared.”

Hermione’s eyes softened.

”Yes, I will tell you when I find out myself,” she promised, “Rose, I need your promise too.”

Rose nodded.

“I won’t tell anyone, mum,” she said.

”Good girl. Now we just have to wait for Bartleby to arrange for you to be able to travel,” Hermione said, sitting down across from them and falling silent, lost in her own thoughts.

Hugo and Rose looked at each other, then their mother, worry etched in their faces.

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Eli returned to Snape, who was sitting in front of the fireplace drinking his third firewhiskey, the bottle on the table next to him. The elf studied him.

“Master, the Miss sends the children away,” the elf said.

”She would. She’s on to me,” the wizard replied, his voice thick. He took another sip of his drink, finishing it and instantly pouring another one, “Go and take the letter to Bartleby and tell him I said to let them leave immediately.”

”Yes sir,” Eli said, winking out.

An hour later, both Hugo and Rose were gone.

Hermione sat down at her desk and looked at her project folder, the name “Sparse Venues” printed across it in block letters. She stared at it.

“Sparse Venues,” she breathed, picking up a quill and tapping each letter with it before transposing them and writing down the name.

She blinked down at it.

“A specialized Bezoar stone was the first patent,” she said to herself, “He’s alive. He disappeared and started this business. Professor Snape is alive.”

Hermione might not have ever thought Hugo’s savior was the Potions master, even with the silken voice, if not for that one term he had used constantly over the years when she was a student at Hogwarts.

Idiot Boy.

Snape had used that term on Harry so often someone might have thought it was his actual name. But Hermione did know that voice. That hiss. Professor Snape didn’t die that fateful night of Voldemort’s fall. He saved himself with a specialized Bezoar stone and disappeared. That’s why there was no body. That’s why his portrait didn’t move.

He was still alive.

Hermione blinked down at the name scrawled under “Sparse Venues.”

Not only was he alive, but he had saved her son’s life.

This was big. Really big. The entire wizarding world would be thrown into an uproar if it was found out Professor Severus Snape, hero wizard, was alive and well.

Hermione swallowed.

And Harry . . . how would this affect Harry, who had named his second son after the wizard? Who found out that Snape had loved his mother for many, many years and did all he did for him because of that love? How would he take it?

Hermione sat there, staring.

Professor Snape was the one who gave her this job. She thought back, remembering the day of Ron’s burial, the tall wizard standing next to the tombstone. Could that have been the Professor as well? Now that she thought about it, it could have been.

And the newspaper ad for the job…she had asked everyone she knew if they had sent it to her. Everyone said they didn’t. Had Snape sent it in order to get her to apply?

Hermione sat there, still thinking.

Sparse Venues was started about a year after his supposed death, as a corporation using the proceeds from the specialized Bezoar stone. Bartleby had been with the company the entire time. It had minimal officers, just enough to keep it legal. She bet Snape was one of those officers, the director and Bartleby probably served as secretary as well.

She had never looked into the name of the director, but she’d bet her last broomstick the name would be an anagram of Severus Snape…like…like…

Hermione froze.

Like Sean U Vespers.

Oh dear gods. Vespers was Snape. She was sure of it.

Hermione took a few deep breaths to calm herself. She didn’t want to go barreling into this. She needed to think of a plan to make the Professor reveal himself to her. She wouldn’t say anything to Bartleby about this. Not to anyone.

She wanted to be the first person to see Professor Severus Snape after more than two decades.

She’d make sure she would be. The witch pulled her wand out of her pocket and walked into her bedroom, stopping in front of the Medi-Box. She pointed her wand at it.

”Reducto!” Hermione cried, blasting a hole in it. The blue light flared brightly for a moment then dimmed.

Hermione jumped as all kinds of sirens and bells sounded and the female voice screeched, “Breach! Breach! All research facilities and materials warded until further notice!”

Hermione listened to the din, a half smile on her face.

It looked like Mr. Sean U. Vespers was going to have to make a house call.

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A/N: We’re moving along now, aren’t we? Short chappie but am feeling achy and had to pop a handful of tylenols. Couldn’t think of a better title for this chapter though. Lol. Thanks for reading.

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