He dared her. Even in her sorrow, she couldn't ignore a challenge from him.
The Seven Deadly Sins of Hermione Granger
By silver-nightstorm
Words: 499
XX
He found her sitting in the hall, crying. As he tried to bypass her, she sniffled louder and lifted her tearstained eyes to meet his. With an acrid sigh, he made his way back to her form.
"What is the matter, Miss Granger?" he drawled, fighting back the urge to grimace at his quasi-considerate tone.
"I hate you," she hissed. He raised an eyebrow as she looked away from him.
"This isn't new to me," he responded, "but I was under the impression I have been ignoring you. Not a single barb on my end. Pray, tell, what have I done to earn your dislike?"
"How do you do it?" she demanded instead, furiously wiping tears off of her cheeks. He continued to stare. "How can you stand teaching here every single day, with reminders etched over the walls of the war and everything that happened? How do you do it without completely breaking down? Teach me!" She pulled herself up from her rolled up position on the ground to stand nose to chest with him. She was much tinier than him but the height difference didn't stop her from glaring fiercely up at him. "I'm envious of you, Professor," she hissed. "I'm envious of your ability to put on a façade and simply pretend everything is okay. I'm envious of your ability to keep on living when I can barely stand putting one foot in front of another on a good day." She reached out, her tiny hands grabbing the lapels on his dress shirt. "Tell me how you do it!"
He pried her hands off of his person, one by one. He turned around and walked away. As he billowed down the corridor, her voice caught up to him.
"I see," she said bitterly. "That's how you do it. You don't think about it. … That's unhealthy, you know?" He stopped, hearing a faint scraping noise as she slid back down the wall and landed once more on the ground with a small thud. "I guess I'll have to try Occlumancy."
He didn't even realize he was moving until he stood in front of her once more, grasping her robes in his slim, potion-scarred hands. "Don't you dare," he hissed. "Don't you dare do that!"
"Ah, that's what you do, isn't it?" she mused. "So then why shouldn't I…"
"It's not worth it!" he shouted. His deep baritone echoed down the hall, stunning Hermione and himself into silence. He took deep breaths, gathering his cool once more. "It's not worth it, Miss Granger. You don't want to be like me. You have a life ahead of you. Don't ruin it by turning yourself to stone."
"If it works…"
"This is not a way out!" he hissed. "Every cloud has a silver lining, including yours, including mine. I dare you to find it. Unless you're not the Gryffindor you say you are?"
She glared at him, her eyes switching from teary to hard in mere moments. "Try me."
XX
The 2012 Hogwarts Games – Shot Put Round 2 – 500 words
The OTP Boot Camp – acrid
The Magic Number Competition – Seven Deadly Sins – envy – every cloud has a silver lining
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