The Awakening Power

Chapter 15: Hermione's Soldiers

The Awakening Power

by Sib

Chapter 15: Hermione's Soldiers

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Harry limped slightly while walking down the corridor, his face set with a very hard look. Hermione kept glancing over to him with a worried expression, while Ron appeared that he was trying to avoid looking at either one of them.

"What?" Harry snapped at Hermione, irritated.

"Erm, shouldn't you go to the infirmary, Harry?" she asked nervously.

"I'm fine," he said shortly.

The three had just finished a rather tense Defense class. They had been practicing sweep spells, which caused a side-pulling force on the opponent's feet, causing them to trip. As was common these days, Snape had called Harry up to the front to demonstrate.

Harry blocked the first few spells Snape cast, but then Snape used an unusual variation Harry hadn't seen before, far more powerful than the usual sweeper. Snape invoked the sweep at almost floor level, causing Harry's ankle to bend. It had seemed all right in class, but was now beginning to flare with pain.

The only positive note was that when Snape demonstrated the defensive spell, Harry's sweeper had penetrated his shield, causing Snape to land with a loud crash. Harry smiled maliciously at the memory. Since Snape had used a powerful spell against Harry, he didn't feel particularly guilty about using one against him.

In fact, he was noticing that his spells were penetrating Snape's shields a fair amount of the time. Snape seemed to need to get them perfectly in-line to fully block Harry's spells. He'd also been noticing that few students in the class could block his spells, either.

They went back to the common room and sat down at a table to do homework. A short while later, Harry noticed his ankle was swelling considerably and didn't seem to be getting better. As much as he hated another trip to the infirmary, it looked like it was going to be necessary.

"My ankle's killing me. I guess I better go see Pomfrey," Harry grumbled.

"Do you need help?" Hermione asked, looking concerned.

"Nah, I'll be okay. I'll be back later," he said.

"See you later, mate," Ron said, barely looking up as he concentrated on his work. Harry gave him in odd glance; he wondered again why he seemed to be so enamored of school work lately.

Harry left the common room, limping down the corridor toward the infirmary, feeling hatred toward Snape. Although he was happy he was able to take Potions, he had to ask himself again what he'd done to Dumbledore to deserve Snape as Defense professor.

As he walked into the infirmary, he noticed Madam Pomfrey's desk was empty, so he walked into the examining room. He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw Snape sitting on a table, being attended to by Pomfrey. He had one very pale, skinny leg sticking out from his robes, lying on the table.

"Well, Mr. Potter. Back again, I see. Well, come on over and sit down, I just need to do a bit of work on Professor Snape, here," she said, gesturing to the table next to Snape's table.

"Erm, maybe I should come back later..." Harry said quickly.

"Don't be silly; I'll be with you in a minute. Sit!" Pomfrey said commandingly, pointing at the table.

As Harry reluctantly walked over, Snape stared straight ahead, his face a study in stone.

"Well then, Professor, you've made quite a mess of this knee. Several torn ligaments. How did you say this happened?" she said, waving her wand over the knee.