Recently I came across a song by Coldplay called "Sparks"; it has been in my head for awhile now and I've been itching to write a story based off of its lyrics. Before you read, I realize that sentences are not capitalized; that was intentional. it's four in the morning and I decided to write differently than I normally do. Anyways, this is a Hermione/Snape fic, and obviously it's AU. Everything in this belongs to J.K. Rowling and Coldplay, respectively; nothing belongs to me except the story. Read, enjoy, and review. Rated R.

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Sparks

(My heart is yours)

the sky is gray and raindrops fall slowly but steadily down your dungeon window as you grade potion mid-term parchments; there are countless amounts of them, and you are hard at work. your quill scribbles furiously through each of the parchments, meticulously circling a word there, or scratching out the wrong ingredients to a potion mixture there. you manage to go through at least half of the pile that was sitting there on your desk before you decide you can take it no longer, and you place the quill down. as you slump in your chair, your eyes avert to the window; you can't help but wistfully stare off into the gray sky that lies just past that window. the raindrops and the gray backdrop make for a beautiful scene, and a lonely one at that. it makes you long for her.

you have to find her.

so you rise out of your seat, and out of your dungeon corridor. you find your feet guiding you to her without you even having a conscious thought about where she could be. you stop in front of the portrait of the fat lady and mutter the password – weasley's extendable ears – and step inside. the students look up at you, alarmed, as your presence interrupts what appeared to be a peaceful moment of studying. you sneer at the students to upkeep your well-known persona, and say, "I must speak to my teaching assistant – in private, if you will. Ms. Granger?"

she looks up from one of the armchairs near the fire; it's more than apparent she was enamored in some textbook. her face lights up when she sees you, but quickly dissolves when the other students look at her with curiosity and fear. she snuffs, closes her book shut, and follows you out of Gryffindor Tower, back down to your dungeons.

(It's you that I hold on to)

the moment your dungeon door closes behind your billowing robe, she is in your arms, pinned up against your wall, and giggling as you kiss her. your kisses are at first soft, gentle, but eventually build up to become deeper, hungrier, and more passionate. she responds to you with light gasps, and grips at your robe tightly as your mouth moves from her own to her neck, nipping, licking and kissing.

but somehow, amidst all of those passionate kisses, you find yourself pulling away from her. she looks at you in confusion as you pull away from her hungry lips, and turn your eyes towards your window once more. she does not understand.

"Ms. Granger, have you ever kissed in the rain before?"

she shakes her head no.

(that's what I'll do) –

– I'll let her experience that, you think to yourself as you take her by the hand and lead her silently to the Quidditch field. the rain is pouring down now, and the two of you get soaked as you guide her across the field and to a secluded wall under the stands. and there she is again, against another wall, succumbing to your every move, every kiss, every touch. her gasps become louder and the fervor in your groans become more apparent as each of your articles of clothing disappear, one by one, till the two of you are stark naked; there you are, on top of her, thrusting inside of her, the rain sliding down your back and down her bare thighs as she moans. she moans and begs for you to give her more, give her all of you; that's all you want to do. her begging grows louder as your thrusts become more prominent – and then all you can see is the gray sky, raindrops cooling your face as you are given your sweet release.

she smiles at you, and pulls you close. you close your eyes and open them again to find you must have fallen asleep, and somehow she had transferred the two of you back to your bedroom. she is snug in your arms, a serene smile on her face as her body slowly moves up and down, to the rhythm of her breathing. you move slightly and she awakes, her eyes fluttering open. when she turns to face you, you place a sweet kiss on her forehead, and say the only thing you can.

"I love you."

and you know she loves you too.

(But I know I was wrong) –

– and looking back at those days, you realize that perhaps you were wrong for letting things transpire in the way that they did. those kind of events would continue to occur throughout her Seventh Year; whenever she was there with you, in your corridor mixing potions, you would come up behind her and lay an affectionate kiss on her lips. or when you were feeling lonely, you would whisk her away from Gryffindor Tower and into your arms, your lips falling upon hers, and your fingers tangling into her incorrigible hair. she would giggle as you begged for her to stay with you, and swat your hands away from her robes as she pulled them on and sighed, "I have to go…but remember, I love you."

and Merlin, did she love you.

as the end of the schooling year approached, she would often bring up how the relationship between the two of you would continue once she graduated. she dreamed of studying in Romania for a year, and then returning to Hogwarts as a teacher, and as your wife. you sneer at her – if not affectionately – and chuckle at her childish dreams, but realize that this could all soon become a reality. not only that, but the secret relationship that the two of you have held this past year would be revealed. your revered position as Potions professor would be on the line, and both your fellow teachers and the students of Hogwarts would certainly look at you different.

it pains you to think about this.

"Severus?"

you snap back down to Earth and realize she asked you a question. her brown eyes wait patiently for your response, so you gulp and wipe the sweat off of your brow. "what did you ask, my love? I'm sorry, I was distracted by my brewing…"

"I asked if you would still be here, loving me, once I come back from my studies."

you're torn.

you don't want to say yes, but you certainly don't want to answer no. there is no doubt that you love her; but you also love your reputation. so you do not think about the answer you give, and simply say –

(I won't let you down) –

and she shrieks with joy, jumping into your arms. you feel your heart sink as she showers you with kisses; what have you just done?

(But I'll sing "oh")

so she does graduate from Hogwarts, and leaves to Romania for one year. she constantly writes you letters, filled with tales of her experiences, and each letter that your owl drops off is just one day closer to when she returns, and everyone learns the truth. your fellow teaching colleagues look at you with slight worry in their eyes as they see you begrudgingly walk into Great Hall each evening, never once touching your food. you grow thinner and bags begin to grow under your eyes as the amount of time until she arrives at Hogwarts is two months – how did time fly by?

you sit at your desk late at night one evening and ask yourself, why does this all matter so much? you realize that she is the love of your life, the only woman whom you had ever loved. reputation should not matter nearly as much as her; but it does. the professors, along with the headmaster, never approved of student/teacher relationships, and you would be no exception to that. every professor who had been caught having relations with a student had been banned from Hogwarts; and face it, this job was your only means of survival. you loved teaching, even if you did it somewhat disdainfully at times.

was she worth losing it all?

(I cry "Oh") –

- and she does; tears flood her eyes and spill down onto her cheeks as you break the news to her. the two of you cannot continue the relationship that you had while she was a student. you realize that you are much too old for her, and do not want to interfere with her teaching career. you and her both know that this reasoning is a complete fallacy, a bound of excuses you have created to hide your real and shameful reason. she continues to cry at the foot of your bed, moaning that she has waited one long year to return to you, and she instead returns to this.

you feel your heart break as she walks out of your dungeon door; you know she will not return through there again.

she doesn't. instead, she surprisingly becomes the new defense against the dark arts teacher, and becomes the new favorite of all the students. a few years down the road, she marries her former classmate, Ron Weasley, and the two of them have a beautiful baby girl together.

(Yeah, I saw sparks)

it has now been ten long years since you lost her; you realize you threw your life away. you go through life's progression with little to no happiness; it pains you to have to see her at the faculty table every day, her face always turned away from yours, and her bright smile always aimed at someone else. it takes everything in your power to not beg her to take you back, even after all these years. you feel as if everything in your life has been lost.

(And I saw sparks)

but one day, you once again find yourself shuffling aimlessly towards the faculty table; it is winter break, and barely anyone is there. she is one of the few teachers who had decided to attend dinner that evening. she looks up, and the two of you make eye contact. it is the first time in many, many years that this has occurred, but still, you think to yourself once you have sat down at your place,

(I saw sparks) –

- it is undeniable. no matter that you broke her heart so long ago, no matter that she was now married and had a child, you just know. she is and will always be yours. you return to your bedroom that evening with a full heart as you realize that this has been the case over the past decade; she was just too prideful to admit it to you.

just as you are about to sink into your sheets and go to sleep with that in mind, you hear a knock at your door and an all too familiar voice…

"Professor Snape? …Can we talk? It's me, Hermione…"

…and for the first time in many years, you smile.

fin.