Silver- mypseudonym

Chapter 12

Hermione Granger sat on the rug in front of the fire in Severus Snape's personal quarters wearing some basically destroyed pajamas and trying to remember how to breathe. She flexed her fingers and toes. Physically, she was fine. Everything that Snape had done to take care of her in fox form had translated to her human self. Mentally she was overwhelmed. Her brain was on fire. How had she survived? How had she gotten so stuck in her Animagus form? How was she going to tell people?

The young woman took a few deep breaths. Resolving to settle one question at a time, she turned to look at the doorway that led to Severus Snape's bedroom. He'd closed the door only halfway so that the fox, she, could come in as she pleased. Hermione thought of what she knew about Severus Snape. He was a very different person from what she'd encountered as a student; she'd been able to see that in the months that he'd cared for her. He was strict, yes, but it was necessary to keep order in such a dangerous classroom. He favored his own house, but that was partially a front for the Dark Lord. In the time she'd been with him she'd seen that he was fair, that he was loyal, and that he could be very kind. He was sarcastic, yes, but he did have a sense of humor when approached correctly.

There were very few people that Severus Snape was close to, and she, as a fox, had been admitted to that number. She'd promised herself once that she'd do whatever she could for that man, and she renewed that promise now. She and Severus Snape would be friends. Right now though, she couldn't just deprive him of his favorite pet, his beloved fox. Having no idea how to present herself to the Wizarding world again, Hermione resolved to put it off for a while. She would stay primarily in her fox form while she determined what it was that she was going to do.

As for figuring out how she survived, she owed that primarily to Snape. It was a miracle she'd survived as long as she did, but she would have died shortly had the professor not healed her. As for how she'd come to be trapped in her Animagus form for so long, a little research could solve that. She'd have to be careful, researching only when the castle was quiet. Fortunately, she had all summer before things really got busy again. The castle was on a skeleton crew all summer as only a few of the professors were inclined to live here year-round, Severus being one of them.

She heard a noise and swiftly changed back to her Animagus form. She turned to see Severus Snape standing in the doorway looking thoroughly nonthreatening in a pair of black boxers and a Muggle t-shirt, his hair ruffled by sleep and his eyes squinty.

"Arian, come on. It's bedtime." he said gruffly, his voice husky with sleep. He turned and walked back into the room. Having to remind herself that she'd never hesitated before, Hermione trotted into his room and jumped up on her former professor's bed. He was stretched out on his stomach looking at her. He lifted one hand and ruffled her ears when she lay down. "Good girl." he muttered before falling asleep.

No, Hermione thought, she definitely couldn't just spring this on him. She curled up on the other side of the bed and soon found herself drifting to sleep.

The next morning Hermione woke slightly confused, but she looked down at her paws and remembered that she had decided to remain in her Animagus form. She stretched languidly before realizing that she was alone in Snape's bed. She heard the shower running.

Snape must be in the shower. she thought, How long has it been since I had a shower? I would love to shower and brush my teeth. She resolved to try to tend to her personal hygiene today if possible. After breakfast she had her first opportunity. She was walking back with Snape, trotting pleasantly by his heels when he stopped and looked down at her.

"Alright, Arian, I'm going to be brewing for a few hours this morning, so I think you'd probably rather not hang around with me. Come find me at lunchtime, and don't you get into too much mischief today." he said. Hermione understood every word. She knew that while before today she'd understood at least parts of what he was saying, this was the first time she'd had enough human faculties about her to comprehend all of it.

Severus was shocked that, after he finished talking to Arian she seemed to nod and scampered away down a different corridor. She'd never reacted that quickly before when he'd spoken to her. Usually she'd try to follow him for a bit, sometimes right up to the lab door before she would turn away. 'She's an odd creature.' he thought to himself.

Okay, first up, clean clothes. Where can I find some clean clothes? Wait; if Hogwarts has just been emptied of students, then there must still be a stash of clothing items that students left behind. It's probably somewhere near the laundry. she thought. She scurried through the lower levels of the school until she got close to the laundry area. The laundry room itself was quiet for once. She remembered seeing a clothing hamper out in Snape's rooms, so maybe the house elves didn't do laundry constantly during the summer as they did during the school year. She followed the smell of clean laundry to a closet. Checking to make sure that no one was around, Hermione changed back into her human form, opened the door quickly, and stepped inside locking the door behind her.

The closet was full of clothing, sorted by house and year. As she was a fully-grown woman, Hermione skipped the clothes belonging to girls younger than sixth year. There was very little chance she'd find something that fit there. Pretty soon, Hermione found a pair of jeans originally belonging to a seventh year Ravenclaw. She matched that with a brassiere from a seventh year Hufflepuff and a clean pressed white shirt from a fifth year Gryffindor boy. Socks she pulled from a box on the floor, and she managed to find a decent looking pair of trainers that didn't hurt her feet. Wadding up her torn and dirty pajamas, Hermione shoved them into a back corner of the closet. She pressed an ear to the door to make sure that no one was around before she opened it, closed it, and transformed back into her fox form. She already felt better just having new clothes.

The only problem was that she didn't want to stop at new clothes. Hermione really wanted a shower.

How to get a shower without getting caught… Well, if I go to any of the student bathrooms it would be quite suspicious, as no one should be showering in one of those at this time of year. I don't know if they have a way to detect water usage, but I'm sure the sound would be plainly obvious, she thought. She walked for a while before something dawned on her. Of course! I just had to put the pieces together! Snape said he would be brewing this morning, and he didn't mention anything until lunch. That means he's probably going to be brewing for a while. His rooms are warded to recognize me, and he clearly has a shower as he was using it this morning!

Having no idea what time it was, Hermione hurried as much as she could back to Snape's chambers. She knew how to let herself in by touching her paw to a certain spot on the floor, as she'd done it many times before. A quick look around verified that he was indeed not here. Hermione transformed as soon as she got back into his bedroom. She practically skipped into the bathroom with delight. For once Hermione was grateful for the meticulous cleanliness Severus Snape enforced on his classes- his bathroom was as spotless as the rest of his quarters. She looked around carefully as she stripped out of the new clothes. She would need to be sure that everything was put back just as it was when she came in.

When she turned the taps and the water cascaded over her skin, Hermione felt as though she finally could tackle everything. She washed off the dirt and dried blood that had marked her time spent in captivity. She washed her hair until it picked up the sandalwood in Snape's shampoo. For the first time ever, Hermione actually did rinse and repeat several times. When she was finished, she wrapped herself in a gloriously soft black towel from the top of the dirty laundry. She knew that he was the type of person who would count his towels, so she decided to reuse the one he'd used that morning. People were clean by the time they got out of the shower, and even so she'd still be much cleaner than she was. Hermione redressed and dried the bathtub by hand.

When she was convinced that the toilet was just as it had been when she entered, Hermione opened the door and stepped out once again in her fox form. Since her hair had been wet, her fur was now damp. She padded out into the living area and lay before the fire to dry off. That was where Snape found her an hour later, napping.

"Arian? Are you okay?" he asked, kneeling on the floor in front of her. It was incredibly unusual for the fox to be sleeping so much. He'd not seen her sleep so much since he first got her.

Hermione woke up when Snape walked in, but she was still a bit groggy from her nap. Before she knew it, he was beside her, stroking her head and asking her worried questions. She just stood up, yawned and stretched thoroughly.

"Well, you seem to be okay now. Do you want to eat?"

Hermione perked up at the mention of food. She was quite hungry actually. She trotted happily to the door.

"I'll take that as a yes. Alright, let's go get some lunch." the Potions Master responded. He gave her a bowl of animal food in the Great Hall. It was barely tolerable.

That night Hermione curled up on the Potions Master's bed. She needed to go do some research, but that could wait until tomorrow. Right now, she was tired. She was a little surprised she was tired, since she'd napped on and off for most of the day, but she was able to sleep through the night.

When Severus Snape woke the next morning Arian was still asleep beside him. He got up, showered and dressed all without waking her. Something was wrong. He tabled everything he had been planning for the morning. He needed to find out what was wrong with Arian.

When Hermione woke up she realized at once that Severus was not there. She grew a little concerned until she heard a shuffling sound coming from the other room. Her brain was a bit foggy, so it took her a moment to recognize the sound of pages turning in a book. She jumped off the bed and walked into the living area. Severus Snape was sitting in the middle of the floor with three different books open. She walked over to look- one appeared to be a guidebook open to the chapter on foxes, another was a medical text, the third was a spellbook of home remedies and basic diagnostics spells. This was the one he was currently paging through. After a moment he looked up at her.

"Arian, come." he said, putting out his hand. Hermione knew that Arian was her name, Silver in Welch. She walked obediently over to him. "Lie down" he instructed. She lay sedately on the floor in front of him. Hermione had no idea what he was going to do to her, but she trusted him implicitly. She only hoped he hadn't figured out her secret.

The Potions Master withdrew his wand. The sleeves on his black button-up shirt were currently folded up to his elbows, so Hermione got a good view of his Dark Mark. She couldn't recall seeing it before, as its something that Death Eaters tended to keep hidden and not without good reason. She found though, that it didn't scare her. If anything it made her a little more determined to be Severus Snape's friend. Who knows how different his life would be now if he'd had good friends all the way through. She lay quietly while he cast spells over her, checking her vital signs, looking for broken bones, bleeding, or internal complaints. He was searching for anything that would explain her lethargy of late.

Finding nothing, Severus Snape rolled down his sleeves, picked her up, and carried her out of his chambers. He carried her all the way to the Hospital Wing.

"Poppy? Are you here?" he called out to the empty wing

"Yes, Severus, what's wrong?" the medi-witch asked, coming out of her office. There was very little need for her during the summers, so Madame Pomfrey used the time to catch up on her filing.

"I think there's something wrong with Arian." he said, setting the fox down on a bed and gesturing for her to stay down.

"Severus, I don't do animals. You'd be better off talking to Hagrid." she said.

"Could you just look at her, please? I checked for broken bones, internal bleeding, all the big stuff. There's nothing big wrong with her, but she's sleeping so much more lately, like when I first got her." he explained. Poppy stopped for two reasons- One, she hadn't heard Severus Snape ask for something for many years. Normally he just demanded what it was he needed or wanted. Two, she had never, in all the years she'd known him, heard Severus say the word please. Before she knew it she was at the side of the bed, waving her wand over a fox.

"You're right, there's nothing physically wrong with her, but I can't do much beyond check for major issues." the medi-witch said, stroking the fox lightly. Hermione was listening to everything they were saying, of course. She knew that she didn't feel poorly, but she also knew that she didn't feel quite 100%. She kind of wondered if they'd be able to find something.

"Well, what would you think it was if she were a student and came in complaining of falling asleep in class or in the middle of the afternoon, not having energy?" the Potions Master asked.

"Well, I'd probably ask if they were sleeping at night." Poppy said.

"She is." Snape replied.

"How do you know?"

"I'm not a heavy sleeper, and she sleeps in my bed." he explained. "If she wasn't asleep, she'd almost certainly wake me up."

"Alright, well, she may have just a cold or a little bug. Does she sneeze a lot or have any difficulty breathing?"

"No."

"Okay, maybe it's a nutritional issue. What do you feed her?" Poppy asked.

"I usually give her food from Magical Menagerie, plus she gets some table scraps from the Great Hall." he replied.

"Why don't you try giving her a full plate during meals in the Great Hall. I'd double check with Hagrid, but I don't think anything but chocolate would be harmful to her. If it's a nutritional deficit of some sort, she'd be drawn to those foods in particular. Try it for a couple of days and we'll see if she perks up. If it doesn't work I'll see about finding a magical veterinarian." Poppy said.

"Thank you, Poppy. As it's breakfast time, I'll start her on human food immediately." Severus said. He picked up his fox again and carried her down to the Great Hall. He set her down again in the chair next to where he normally sat.

The breakfast array at Hogwarts was always about the same- eggs, potatoes, sausages, fruits, and cereals. He took a plate and scooped some eggs onto it. He added some of the breakfast potatoes, and some sliced fruit. He put the plate down in front of Arian before loading up his own plate. He noticed that Arian was eating from her plate with gusto.

Real food! Hermione's mind cheered. The flavors were amazing- it had been months since she'd had anything this good. It was hard to remember not to eat too fast. The last thing she wanted to do was make herself sick. It still only took her a few minutes to finish all of the food and lick the plate clean. She looked up to see Snape spearing a link of sausage on his fork, and she let out an involuntary whimper. The Potions Master looked down and seemed genuinely shocked that she'd finished all of her food. He didn't really expect her to eat fruit, as foxes are generally considered carnivores.

"I take it you want a sausage?" he asked. Hermione whimpered again, shuffling her feet a little. He chuckled a little and put the link down on her plate. Hermione quickly figured out how to eat it and swallowed the whole thing. After begging another sausage successfully, she was quite full. She lay in the chair patiently waiting for Snape to finish eating before following him out of the room.

Over the next week Hermione had a lot more energy. She spent the mornings while Snape was brewing in his quarters researching from his rather extensive collection. What he didn't have she managed to read up on in a few midnight visits to the library while he was asleep. She continued to get human food at every meal, and she was grateful not to have to eat the pet food anymore. Snape had tried to give her a treat once, but after she declined he simply laughed and called her a brat before ruffling her ears.

Hermione was starting to understand what had happened to her, though there weren't many people in the world who had similar experiences, so there wasn't just a whole lot to go on. She knew now that she was functioning just as though she were normal and using her Animagus form. She had only the most powerful of animalistic urges, like her daily sprints through the castle and the desire to chase any smaller animal she encountered. Other than that she could understand what everyone around her was saying, and she'd not had any difficulty switching out of fox form when she so desired.

At the end of June she could tell that something was up with Severus, but he hadn't talked to anyone about it, not even her. He was corresponding with someone, and it didn't appear that he liked the way things were going. Finally, one evening, she got to find out what had been bothering him.

"I have to go to a conference tomorrow, Arian. I'll be gone for two weeks, and I can't take you with me." He explained sadly, petting her as she lay beside him on the couch. "It's a Potions conference obviously, but they want me to present some of my methods developed secretly during the war- ways to shorten brewing times, ingredient switches that make particular potions more effective, that sort of thing. It should be a great honor, but I'm not looking forward to it." He explained. "I don't mind teaching, but lecturing adults, especially other skilled masters, is beyond my comfort zone."

But you held your own among the Order and in Voldemort's ranks. A room of old Potions Masters should be nothing. She thought.

"I know I'm noted for my duplicity in the war effort, but I didn't really have to talk to people. Mostly I was there to sit or stand in the back, collecting information and making observations about people. This time I'll be at the front of hall. I'd feel better about it if they'd let me bring you, but the Head of the conference is adamant that I can't. He keeps spouting some rubbish about you 'contaminating the work space.'" He said. Hermione moved to rest her head on his knee comfortingly.

She felt bad for him, but Hermione couldn't help but think about how lovely it would be to be on her own for two whole weeks. She could spend more than an hour in human form without worry of exposure. She could maybe even sneak out of the castle. It would be immensely helpful.

AN: When the cat's away, the mice will play… what's our dear heroine to do? Thank you all for the lovely reviews, they do help me keep motivated to write.