Light in the dark - Chapter 2 - Collision

Harry and Ron got up very early the next morning. Pulling on their clothes quickly, only one thought was on both of their minds as they hurried down to the common room. Breakfast. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they saw Hermione, still asleep, in the armchair near the hearth.

"Bloody hell, Harry," Ron said to his friend. "I can’t believe she didn’t go to bed at all – it’s suicide, what she does. If she’s not in the library studying, she’s here doing the same thing. All she does every day is study, study, study!"

"You’ve got a point, Ron,“ answered Harry, "but what can we do? You know 'Mione; she’s very stubborn. The most important thing in the world for her is the N.E.W.T.s, and she won’t hear our arguments to the contrary.“

They reached the armchair during their conversation, and Harry bent his head to Hermione’s ear and whispered, "Hermione, get up. It’s time for good girls to go to their classes."

"Mum, don’t wake me yet. It’s too early," she responded sleepily, burrowing deeper into the armchair.

Losing his patience, Ron pushed Harry aside and yelled, "Get up, Granger!"

Harry shot him a nasty glare, but Ron had already succeeded in waking Hermione.

"Ronald Weasley, what are you doing in the girls‘ dormitory? And why can’t I hear the alarm?" Hermione muttered indignantly, her voice still sleepy.

The two boys laughed, and after some time Harry said, "Maybe that’s because you didn’t sleep in your dormitory last night. You fell asleep in this armchair, 'Mione."

Hermione got up quickly, stretching her legs as she took in the amused expression on Harry’s face. Turning her eyes to Ron, who was lying on the floor still laughing, she stepped around him and rushed up the stair to the girls‘ dormitory.



Snape rose that morning in a worse mood than when he had fallen asleep the previous night. It wasn’t only the recent behaviour of the Dark Lord, his plans to attack Hogwarts, or Harry bloody Potter that had Snape in such a bad mood. There was another situation he now found himself in, so unpropitious that it was distracting him.

He was thinking about it all the time; thoughts lingered with him during the day, and neither sleep nor potions could erase them in the night.

What can I do? he thought. Maybe I should try the strongest Dreamless Sleep potion I know. It wouldn’t do for him, the most feared professor of Hogwarts, to allow his attention to waver.

Look at yourself, you old git! How can you allow yourself to be so distracted that you fell asleep in your clothes? You’ve never done that before. Blast it!

"Get over it," he muttered to himself aloud. Rising from his bed, he went into the bathroom.

Emerging from the bathroom several minutes later, he donned clean clothes and headed to breakfast, assuming it would be just like every other morning. Sneering, he looked forward to removing some points from unfortunate dunderheads.

He had no idea, as he left his quarters, what would happen.



At the same time Snape burst out of his dungeon rooms and made his way to the Great Hall, Hermione came downstairs to the common room from her dormitory, hoping Harry and Ron wouldn’t have waited for her.

I hope they’ve already gone to breakfast, she thought. Then I won’t have to listen to their jeers.

Unfortunately, Harry and Ron sat in front of the hearth. Walking straight past them, she headed for the Fat Lady’s portrait and stepped out into the corridor. As she walked down the stairs, she heard the boys calling out behind her.

"Wait! 'Mione, wait for us! Sleeping beauty, let us escort you – we don’t want you to fall asleep and fall down the stairs! Come on, Hermione! Don’t be so touchy!“

Luckily for Hermione, they were slow, and when she reached the bottom of the main staircase, they were still somewhere far above. Not paying attention to what was in front of her, she ran into someone at the bottom of the stairs. At first she wanted to apologize, but then she realized the other person hadn’t been watching where they had been going, either.

"Hell! What nitwit-" she started to yell, but was unable to finish the sentence as another voice cut her off.

"Miss Granger, hold your horses! You know very well that you can’t run through the castle corridors in such a manner." Snape’s voice was cold with malice.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor for your inappropriate behaviour and another ten points for your inability to observe the rules."

She stared at him, incensed, as he continued in a soft, venomous tone, "But what can I expect from one of Potter’s sidekicks?"

He sneered at her, then turned on his heel and went into the Great Hall, his robes billowing behind him. Hermione stayed where she was, fairly shaking with anger.

"What does he think, that he’s perfect? NO, HE ISN’T! I hate him. How much I hate that man," she muttered to herself, even knowing it wasn’t really true.

Hermione sighed and followed Snape into the Great Hall.

1. Kapitola ||

Chapter 2 - CollisionChapter 1 - Minds