"You foul, loathsome, evil GIT!" Hermione Granger screamed at the red haired man who had, until recently, been her fiancé.
"What the hell did I do?" Ron Weasley stared agape at his former fiancée, obviously confused at the turn of events. "Last I knew you only reserved those words for Malfoy."
"You know perfectly well what you did, you arse! LAVENDER? Of all the women…LAVENDER?" Hermione stopped screaming as tears started to run down her face and onto her robes. She turned away from him and looked down at the bustling street scene below.
Understanding began to creep across Ron's face and a sickening angry feeling pooled in his gut. He got up and walked towards the brown haired woman across the room, unsure of what to say, but wanting to make her understand.. He knew then that Hermione had spotted he and Lavender in Diagon Alley, catching up on what had happened since Harry defeated Voldemort and they graduated. "She must have seen Lavender lean in to try to kiss me" Ron thought with a pang. "She apparently didn't see me stop her." As he reached Hermione, he reached out to brush a lock of brown hair from her shoulder in apology. The witch moved away from his touch and walked away, leaving Ron speechless.
Hermione crossed to the small kitchenette of her flat and leaned against the counter with tears coming down her cheeks. She had suspected Ron didn't return her affections, but she never suspected he would cheat on her two months before their wedding. Staring blankly, Hermione's mind rewound the last 48 hours. She didn't understand why he would even be in Diagon Alley that day…he was supposed to be working at the Ministry. Ron was apprenticing under his brother Percy in the hopes of scoring a job working in International Wizarding Relations. Hermione had taken advantage of the summer holidays from her teaching post at Hogwarts to go into Diagon Alley for some items she needed for the now-cancelled honeymoon. Coming out of Flourish and Botts, she had spotted her fiancé sitting at a newly opened café with Lavender Brown laughing over something. Their heads were a little too close. She laughed a little too long at his jokes. Ron started at her in a way Hermione had never seen. When Lavender leaned in towards Ron, Hermione ran down the street and disapparated before she could bear witness to more.
Shaking herself back to the present, Hermione avoided looking at the man standing in her living room as she reached down and slipped the diamond engagement ring off her finger. Staring at it blankly for a moment, she reached out and handed it to a bewildered Ron. Ron stared at it in disbelief for a moment, alternating between anger and sadness. He nodded as he pocketed it and swallowed a lump in his throat before starting to mumble "alright, 'Mione. As you wish." Then his face contorted with anger…"you will marry me Hermione. You don't just put a stop to something. Mark my words, you will come crawling on your knees, begging me to take you back because no one else will want an ugly looking brainiac." With that, he turned and walked out, slamming the door behind him.
Once he was gone, Hermione sank to the floor with an anguished cry…
Checking his watch impatiently for what seemed like the twentieth time, Severus Snape stood up from the library desk muttering in annoyance, "Where the hell is she? Just because she is getting married does not excuse the insufferable know-it-all from her teaching duties."
Hermione and Severus had planned to meet to discuss their combined Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts curriculums. Since the end of the War, Hermione had become an accomplished Potions Mistress. As a result, she and Severus found themselves working more closely at Hogwarts than either of them would have liked. At her request, he had begrudgingly agreed to rearrange his busy research schedule to meet her in the Hogwarts Library to discuss their course of action for the upcoming term. And now she was nowhere to be had.
"Well since she decided her wedding is more important, I might as well not waste my time here." Sneering, Severus stood up, gathered his materials and headed out of the library and down the stairs.
Hogwarts was pleasantly quiet without the students, but also very empty…which is why the slightest movement caught Severus' eye. He saw a tuft of red running towards the Headmistress' office. Curiosity got the better of Severus as he began to follow.
As a former Death Eater-turned-Order of the Phoenix-spy, Severus was very adept at masking his every movement. He followed the red headed man, staying about ten paces behind. The red headed man literally ran into Headmistress Minerva McGonagall halfway to the landing of the Headmaster's office. Severus' intuition led him to hide in a corner to observe the exchange. His mind questioned why he was even doing this when he should be heading back to his office. But he was still peeved with Granger and he suspected the red haired man held the clues to her absence. He caught snippets of the man's voice speaking…
"Please talk reason to her Professor. You are one of the few she would listen to…I'm afraid she…"
"Mr. Weasley!" interrupted McGonagall. "What are you talking about?"
"Hermione, ma'am. She's gone mental. Threw THIS at me and told me to get out and she never wanted to see me again. That's not like her. I think she got into a bad potion or something…"
"Ronald, I am sorry to hear about your predicament but Hermione is my employee. I am in no position to interfere in this quarrel between the two of you. Pre-wedding jitters are to be expected."
Stiffly, Ron pocketed something and nodded to the headmistress before turning on his heel and walking out. As he passed, Severus heard him muttering "conniving bitch. Thinks she can dump me…well, we'll see who gets the better end of the stick. She will rue the day the decided to leave the big Ron Weasley." Ron stormed down the stairs in anger and out the front entrance.
Severus came out of the corner he was hiding in trying to process what he had just heard. He had never liked Weasley as a student, thinking that just because he was the Boy Wonder's best friend, he deserved special accolades. Now, that he had become a Chudley Cannon (albeit a backup), Ron's self-centered nature truly revealed itself. Still, something in the words he heard made Severus pause. It really wasn't like Hermione to just forget a work appointment. Plus, they had a LOT of work to do. Before he could stop to think about what he was doing, Severus walked out of Hogwarts and apparated.
Severus landed with a thump on a relatively busy residential/semi commericial street in London. People were milling about on the sidewalk, looking into the windows of the independent shops scattered up and down the street. Cars drove past, weaving through the children who were running around, enjoying a carefree summer holiday. He took a moment to gather his wits about him and think for a minute back to what Hermione told him once: "It's not a very big flat, up above a small coffee shop. But it's close to the Tube, there is a park across the street, and it's home when I need it to be."Severus saw a park about a block up the street and headed in that direction, ignoring the curious glances he got from passersby. After all, it was the middle of summer and a rare sunny afternoon. Who in their right mind would be wearing black pants and heavy black robes on a day like this?
Reaching the park, Severus looked at the shops on the street. He saw a corner convenience store, a dress/gift shop, and…TWO coffee shops? Muttering to himself about how the hell can two coffee shops stay in business practically next to each other, Severus weighed his odds of hitting the right apartment on the first try. He glanced up to the second story and sighed when he saw a patch of orange fur in the window above the closest coffee shop. "Crookshanks" he muttered. "Bloody cat is useful for once." Finding a door that led upstairs, Severus headed upstairs and knocked at the lone door at the top.
The knocking jarred Hermione out of her reverie. She had been replaying the last hour in her mind as she sat on her kitchen floor leaned against a cupboard. "Bloody hell," she thought. "it's over, Ron. No amount of pleading will change my mind."
"Go away." She croaked and threw her shoe towards the door. It landed a foot in front of the door, not deterring the occupant on the other side. The banging sounded again. "Go away I said! Leave me alone Ron!" Expending the last of her mental and physical energy on shouting at whoever it was to go away, Hermione slumped back against the cabinet in tears. She didn't hear the muttered spell or the door as it came open.
Severus put on his best "I'm incredibly irritated" sarcastic voice and started to say "I hope you have a damn good reason for today" but was brought up short at the sight of Hermione slumped on the floor, facedown, forehead against her updrawn knees, shoulders heaving in silent sobs. He stared at her for an instant before her head came up warily at the sound of his entrance and she hastily stood up and wiped at her face.
"Professor? What in Merlin's name are you doing…realization dawns on her face OH I am SO SORRY. I forgot. I must look a fright. You see, I just haven't been feeling well and I left my things in my office. Let me go get them." Severus let her prattle on as she tried to wipe her tears and pretend the last hour hadn't happened. He stood still with an odd look on his face as Hermione stood up, took a few deep breaths, and resolutely ignored the questioning looks of the man standing next to her as she walked towards the stairs to the office loft. Everything around here was a blurry haze from the tears, which disoriented Hermione for a moment.
Severus vascillated between the irritated professor persona and the "I have no clue how to deal with a crying woman" awkwardness as he stood watching Hermione. As she waited a second for the room to come into focus, Severus sighed and reached into his robes for a green silk handkerchief emblazoned with the Slytherin crest and handed it to Hermione as she reached the bottom of the steps to her loft.
Hermione stared at the handkerchief blankly for a moment, wondering what would possess her surly coworker to offer such an olive branch. Realizing she would be acting very rude if she did not accept his offer, Hermione took the handkerchief and started up the stairs, wiping her eyes along the way. When she reached her small loft, Hermione took a few deep breaths and let herself relax slightly in the presence of her beloved book collection. This is where Hermione felt safe. Books did not look at her and tell her she was ugly. They did not judge her for being too much of an "insufferable know-it-all" nor did they care whether or not she was having one of her "moods." Books, in many ways, were Hermione's best friends…there for you no matter what. Feeling a wee bit better, Hermione picked up her plan book and her potions notes along with the updated copies of Advanced Potions Making, stuffed them in her bag and headed down the stairs again.
To his credit, Severus did not question Hermione about her tears, even knowing she was not a woman prone to crying spells. She was one of the bravest and strongest witches he had ever known (although he would rather saw his own arm off than tell her that) so something BIG had to happen between her and Weasley for her to not be wearing her engagement ring and to be curled up in a heap crying on her kitchen floor. Questions swirled through the man's mind but he wisely kept his mouth shut. Being a skilled Legilimens, he could have simply entered her mind, but decided it was really none of his business.
Hermione refilled Crookshank's food and water dishes, adjusted the bag on her shoulder, left an endtable lamp burning for when she got home and finally looked at Severus, waiting impatiently by the door. He surprised her by opening and holding the door for her, something she could never recall Ron doing. She walked out ahead of him, unaware she was still slightly trembling at the recollection of the recent events and worry of what Ron might try to do or say. Severus took note of the slight tremor in her hand as she took out her key and locked the door behind them and proceeded down the stairs.