Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.
Hermione sighed, putting the returned envelope on top of the stack of others just like it. She just didn't understand why he wouldn't read her letters or answer back. It was 5 months after the war and everybody had managed to move on, except her.
Harry and Ginny were still happily together and Harry had just told Hermione that he planned on proposing to Ginny on her birthday in two weeks. Shortly after the war Ron and Hermione realized that they were better off as friends only and he had moved on and found an American girlfriend and seemed quite content with her. Apparently he asked her to talk about whatever all the time, just so he could listen to her accent. But Hermione felt alone. Even when she got together with her friends, she felt that no one understood her. It took her about a month after the war to figure out who she needed to talk to. Severus Snape was who she wanted, no, needed to talk to.
Thankfully, being the potions master he is, Snape knew that there could very well be a day when he was on the receiving end of Nagini's bite. So, he concocted a potion of sorts many years ago containing her venom and began taking it in small doses to help build up an immunity to it. And when the Dark Lord set Nagini on Snape in the boathouse, the bites hurt, and the venom was paralyzing, but they were not fatal. He was nursed back to full health slowly but surely in the following weeks.
When Hermione worked up her courage to send a letter to her intimidating ex-professor, she sent it to Hogwarts assuming that he was still there. She was disappointed a few days later when she got a reply from Minerva saying he took a year off for his health. So, she sent the letter to Spinners End and got it back the next day with no reply, the letter not even being opened. And so began their silent battle.
In total Hermione sent 5 letters that went unanswered before she got so mad, she wanted to apparate to his doorstep directly. How dare he! After all she had been through, he had been through, hell, after all everyone had been through this last year and he couldn't find the decency to reply to a simple letter. She just wanted to know if they could meet up for tea or coffee sometime. She was ready to get back on track with her life, but felt she needed to talk to him for some reason first. Therefore, the next day dawned bright and sunny and Hermione found herself traveling to Spinners End to get a direct answer from the man she remembered to be mean, dark, and lonely.
When she arrived at his house, she was surprised. It looked exactly like every other house on the street. For some reason, in her mind she had thought it would look different somehow, more sinister or brooding. But it was just a two story condo, like all the rest. Hermione knocked on the front door and looked around while waiting for him to answer. There was a small flower pot on the ground next to her with a strange, but beautiful flower in it. The center of the large flower was brilliant yellow and the petals started violet near the center and faded until they were midnight blue and the end. And it emitted an aroma so intoxicating that she would have been quite content to sit on the ground and inhale it forever if the front door had not opened at that exact moment.
"Miss Granger, what may I ask are you doing on my doorstep?" came that familiar, yet different drawl. Hermione looked up at him expecting to feel relief or a spark or something that told her this was right. But she didn't feel anything. Except slightly embarrassed that he found her crouching on his doorstep sniffing his plants. Straightening up she replied "I'm sorry, Prof-Severus for intruding like this, but you didn't answer any of my letters, and I need to talk to you." Snape looked at her for a moment before sighing and saying "Oh, I should have known you wouldn't leave me alone. Come on in then, lets get this over with." Hermione brightened despite his words, and hurried in past him before he could change his mind.