Author's Note: Major thanks to my team for being awesome :)
Written for...
Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. Team/Position: Holyhead Harpies, Seeker. Task: Write about Hogsmeade Station.
Outcasts
940 words
Hermione waited anxiously by the carriages, checking her watch every few seconds.
"Are you coming?" Ginny asked, poking her head out of the carriage.
"I think I'll walk," Hermione said, looking back at the castle. Almost everyone was already on their way to Hogsmeade and she couldn't hold up the last carriage any longer.
Ginny pursed her lips but said nothing. She had been good about dismissing Hermione's peculiarities over the last few months.
The brunette watched the carriage drive away and sighed, beginning the long trek to the village alone.
She wrapped her winter cloak tighter around her thin frame, cursing herself for actually believing he would join her. He hadn't promised, after all, just gave her enough hope to have her trudging through a foot of snow in case he wanted to walk with her.
No one else was dumb enough to walk in a snowstorm, and yet within minutes she heard her name being called. She turned around to find a figure dressed all in black approaching her. She smiled at him as he caught up to her.
"I thought you weren't coming."
"This is a horrible day for a walk," Severus sneered in response. His face was barely visible behind his winter gear. "I hate the cold."
Hermione rolled her eyes and cast a warming charm over the both of them. It melted the snow around their feet as they walked.
"Madam Pomfrey says the walking will do you good."
"I could just as easily walk around my chambers and accomplish the same result."
"You've been doing too much of that already. When was the last time you were outside?"
He didn't answer, but Hermione already knew. She had spent almost every morning in his chambers since he was released from the hospital, bringing him food and anything else he asked for. No one else could put up with his constant grumbling.
"It's been months, Severus," she said quietly, as if someone would overhear. She was only allowed to use his name in private. "You're never going to regain your strength by staying cooped up in the dungeons."
"I disagree." He was pouting, she knew without even being able to see his face. He always pouted whenever she didn't give in to him, although he refused to admit it.
It stopped snowing a few minutes into their journey and Hermione eased the warming charm just a bit. The cold air would help, whether he liked it or not.
"You're not my nurse, you know," he griped. It was his favorite line to use when she was annoying him. He couldn't very well take away house points now that he wasn't her professor.
"You know very well that Madam Pomfrey told me to look out for you, now hush up and walk."
It pained her to remember the early days after Severus' return to Hogwarts, when he could barely get around and would often be found collapsed in the hall or trying to work in his old lab. He almost fell down the grand staircase at three in the morning once before the school nurse took matters into her own hands and demanded someone look after him if he wasn't going to do it himself.
A long silence stretched between them. Severus could go days without talking, which didn't surprise Hermione in the least. Most of their time spent together over the past months had been in silence, lounging in his den and reading their respective books. He seemed to accept her presence better when she was quietly studying in the corner and he could pretend she wasn't there.
"I do appreciate this," he said after several long minutes. "Not this, exactly." He motioned to the snow covered road ahead of them. "But your … nagging."
"Are you trying to thank me? Because it's coming across as being very negative."
"You're not the worse person Poppy could have stuck me with."
Hermione shook her head. "You're just lucky I don't force you to take meals in the Great Hall with the rest of us."
"You don't eat there either," he pointed out smugly.
"I don't … see the point anymore." She couldn't explain how it felt to be in that room since the battle, and mostly she tried not to think about it at all. She was a seventh year, but years older than the rest and sometimes she wondered if coming back had been such a good idea after all. She heard the things the others said about her, as if she'd been held back. She hardly sat in the common room anymore.
They could see Hogsmeade station in the distance, and all the carriages abandoned by students. Severus slowed to a stop and Hermione did the same.
"I would rather not run into anyone," he muttered, and she understood his hesitation immediately. Whether due to the guilt of the things he'd done or because there were still some people who mistook his actions to be nefarious, Severus didn't like to socialize any more than she did.
"Come on," she said, tugging on his sleeve. "Let's go back. You've done enough for today. I might even talk Madam Pomfrey into letting you back into your lab tonight."
"I'm not some puppy you can train with little treats, you know. If I wanted to brew something—"
"You would need to get through me and several wards before you could even get out of your rooms."
He scowled. She could feel his eyes burning holes in her skull and laughed at how much he reminded her of an upset toddler.
"I'm still your professor."
"Not anymore, Severus."