Who would have thought that I'd be the one
To change a stone cold man?
Who would have thought that I'd do it
By falling in love with him?
Who ever thought it'd be funny
To throw me and him together?
Who would have thought that man'd be you?
And who would have thought
That when I looked back,
I wouldn't've have changed a thing?
Poem by: Me
Chapter One
Good night…Hermione
Hermione gasped for breath as she ran up a steep hill. She wanted to stop. She desperately needed to stay still long enough to get rid of this stitch in her side, but she couldn't. A blast to the right of her reminded of that. She let out a squeal and if possible, ran even faster. She reached the top of the hill, and looked back for a split second, her honey brown hair flying about her head. There, running up the side of the hill was Avery, Nott, and McNair. Couldn't they just leave them alone? she wondered as she spun her head back, and rolled kind of gracefully down the hill. At the bottom, she jumped up and looked back again. He was rolling down the hill after her, and the death eaters hadn't reached the crest of the hill yet. She watched as black hair and black robes rolled down the hill. In a split second, she remembered how she had gotten into this situation…
* * *
Two Days Prior
Knock!!! Knock!!! Knock!!! Who was pounding on her front door at sixth thirty in the bloody morning? She wondered as she walked to the door, drying her wet hair with a towel as she went. She had managed to pull on a pair of dark blue pants and a dark green tank top.
"I'm coming!!! Jeez," she added under her breath as the knocking got louder and more annoying. Had they no respect? They were going to wake up her parents! And on their anniversary too!!! She opened the door, saw who it was, and before she could scream, a rather pale—paler than usual—Severus Snape put one of his hands over her mouth, one on her shoulder, guiding her back into her house, and shutting the door with his foot.
"Now, Granger, I'm going to remove my hand, and don't scream. I don't want your parents waking up. Alright?" he asked. She shook her head. He sighed. He looked her straight in the eyes for a second or to, and let her go. She went to scream, but no sound came out. She put a hand to her throat and glared at him.
"Listen! I am here to warn you!" he hissed, glancing up the stairs, and then pulling her into the sitting room just to the right of the door. (When you first walk in, you turn right, for all of you who can get confused ^_^) She went wide eyed at him, confused. What could he possibly come here to warn her about?
"A group of Death Eaters will be here in a matter of hours," he whispered. Her eyes went wide, and she let out a silent scream, her mouth still shut and the silence charm still in place. "You can't leave though." Her eyebrows knit together in sheer confusion. "If you do, they'll know you were tipped off, and just come back another time, and they'll suspect me," he whispered. She gestured to her throat. "Will you scream?" She shook her head. "Will you make any noise to alert anyone that I'm here?" Again she shook her head. "Very well." He took the charm off of her.
"Why should I trust you? The order trusted you, and you betrayed them," she whispered, not wanting to wake her parents.
"First off, I was only acting under Dumbledore's orders. He told me to do whatever was necessary to keep the Dark Lord's trust. Second of all, I'm your only chance of survival," he whispered.
"How so?" she asked.
"I am in the group of death eaters assigned to kill you. No other death eater knows about this mission. I will cause a distraction of some sort, long enough for you to get away, understood?" he asked. She looked at him for a long moment, and then nodded. For some reason she believed him. She knew in her gut he wasn't lying. "Good. Now you'll have to use this. They can trace apparition," he said, giving her a pocket watch. "All you have to do is active it by rubbing the face of the watch twice counterclockwise and once clockwise." She didn't look up from the watch, but nodded. He stood up.
"Remember Granger, you don't leave before we get here, or it could be both of our lives," he warned, and left with a POP! The rest of the morning his visit plagued her as she made her parents breakfast in bed, and brought their omelets, coffee, and tea up to them. Then she went back to her room. She could make it seem that she had been planning to go to the burrow early…No. A trunk would slow her down. Then there was a bang of the front door blasting open.
"Go upstairs!! The wrench's parents will be up there!" she heard a gruff voice say, then heard three pairs of heavy foot steps on the stairs. Her heart started to race, but she forced herself to be calm. Panicking would definitely not help at the moment.
Five pairs of footsteps coming down the stairs.
"Come out, Granger! Come out or we'll kill your parents right now!" called the gruff voice. One hand out and clenching her wand, and one in her pocket, clenching the pocket watch, she left her room, and walked down the hall to the sitting room where they were. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw her mother in her night gown and her father in his pjs on their knees in front of two death eaters that held their hands securely behind their backs with a spell.
"Let go of them, Macnair. Your strife is with me," she said, her voice even, recognizing the man who had been speaking as the man who had been sent to behead Buckbeak four years previously.
"Aww!! Would you look at that! Big Bad Granger wants me to let her Daddy and Mummy go! I'm soo scared!!" He said in a baby voice, and fake cowered away from her. She stood there patiently as he did this, trying hard not to roll her eyes.
"Tell me, do all death eaters like to mock their victims and get them pissed off, or are they all that stupid?" she asked. He glared at her for a split second before grinning evilly and pointing his wand at her.
"Crucio!!!" he yelled. She fell to the floor, withering in pain from the fire running throughout her entire body, but she refused to scream. She had Moody do this curse on her time and time again to train her body to get used to the pain. Finally the pure agony ended. She caught her breath, and got slowly rose to her feet, before shaking her hair out of her face, and staring Macnair in the eye.
"Is that all you've got, bastard?" she demanded, her voice low, but by no means a whisper. He stared in shock, along with the other death eaters, and then he grinned, and turned his wand on her mother. She let no trace of emotion cross her face. He looked from her mother up to her, grinning in a scary evil way.
"ADVADA KEDAVA!!!" he yelled. Her mother was lost in a flash of green light.
"NO!!!!!" her father yelled as Karen Granger fell to the floor, dead. "YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!" he yelled at Macnair. Hermione looked at him. Such language she had never heard from her father before.
"You're next," he hissed, and pointed his wand at her father. Hermione's hand clenched around her wand so hard that her knuckles were white and sparks were flying out of the tip.
"ADVADA KEDAVA!!!" he yelled, and Hermione watched as Roger Granger also crumpled to the floor, dead. Hermione swung her wand arm up, to her shoulder, and then flung it in an arch away from her. All of the death eaters flew back into the wall. Hermione pulled her hand out of her pocket, and in doing so dropped the watch.
"Crucio!!!" she screamed. Macnair began to whither and scream in pain.
"Impedimentia!!!" a death eater screamed, and she flew into the kitchen island. All she saw was stars for a few moments but she got up anyway, and found a glass she had been drinking from earlier. She grabbed it, and slowly walked back into the sitting room, and threw it at a female death eater's face. It hit its mark and shattered at it hit her nose. She screamed and howled in pain as glass shards went into her broken nose, her cheeks, lips, eyes, and forehead.
Professor Snape took action when Granger was thrown. He calmly walked over and picked up the pocket watch, and stroked it twice counterclockwise. Suddenly Dell screamed in pain, and he looked up at her. Apparently Granger had gotten a glass and thrown it at her. 'Way to go, Granger.' he thought, and walked behind her. He put an arm around her shoulders, felt her gasp, and reach for his arm, but he rubbed the watch clockwise, and they were gone. They landed in a heap.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR!?!?!" she demanded getting to her feet.
"I told you that you had to get out of there, didn't I? Now, thanks to you, we're both in danger," he said.
"You're the one who grabbed me!" she said. He shook his head.
"Come. It is at least half a year's journey to London ," he said.
"Why would we go there?" she asked.
"That's where the Order is. You'll be safe there," he said.
"Why do you care so much?" she asked. He either didn't want respond to that or just didn't hear because he was already walking off.
* * *
They had been on the run ever since. Death Eaters occasionally found them and chased them, trying to kill them like now. Professor Snape came to a stop at the bottom of the hill, and Hermione grabbed his arm, helping him up, and they set off running into the muggle town that was over the next hill. As they started to climb it, a spell hit the hill right beside her, and she screamed, and fell. Professor Snape came back, grabbed her arm, and helped her up, and helped her run faster up the hill. They crested the hill, and ran down it, and through the town. They turned around. Apparently the Death Eaters had given up the chase once again. They sighed, and Hermione walked into a general store, and bought some chips for them. Professor Snape took one, grateful. As he ate, he took in his young companions' raggedy appearance. Her tank top was covered with dried mud, and grass stains. Black marks from the residue of spells were right on and under her right boob, on the lower left corner of her front, and in the middle of her back. Her pants had dried mud up to the mid thighs, and grass stains on the knees and butt. Her hair was a mess, grass and leaves in it, bushy from all of he tangles in it, but her face bore no sign of labor really. She looked happy and rather carefree as she munched on her chips, staring at the town well… He shook his head, and returned to his chips.
* * *
"We should make camp," Professor Snape said three hours later as they approached a wooded area. The sun was going down. She nodded, and they went into the middle of the small wooded area, and laid down two blankets they had managed to buy. As they were laying there, about to sleep, Hermione spoke.
"Professor Snape?" she asked quietly.
"Yes, Granger?" he asked.
"Why?"
"Why what, Granger?"
"Why did you save me? Why are you doing this?" she asked the questions that had been bugging her ever since that morning two days ago.
"I don't know, Granger. Probably because you remind me of me when I was your age," he said.
"Oh?" she asked.
"Always had to be the best at everything, I did, but someone managed to beat me in something along the way. I would always have my hand up to answer a question a teacher asked. Always got high marks on all my tests. In other words, at school, I was the insufferable-know-it-all," he said. She stared at him.
"Hmm. I never knew that," she said.
"Now you do," he said.
"Now I do."
"Oh, and Granger?" he asked.
"Yeah?"
"Go to sleep." She smiled, and rolled onto her side, facing him.
"Good night, Professor," she said, and fell asleep.
"Good night…Hermione." And he rolled over away from her, and fell asleep.