Synergy

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An AU Grape (Granger/Snape) Drabble-fic based on a variation of the 100-drabble prompt of the LJ community 100Quills. I hope you enjoy. And, yeah, I know I'm supposed to be writing 100 Things and Medians. I'm just adding one more fic to the list.

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Beginning: Descende

001. Broken

He chases the sun

Hermione has seen many faces in her eighteen years of living. She has seen hope, she has seen rage, she has seen joy, she has seen grief. But when a powerful wizard, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, the Order of Merlin, the odd old man, approaches her, his face is not quite like any she has ever seen before.

He brings with him a request that would shatter a lesser woman. But, she supposes, that is exactly why he chooses her.

002. Desire

Always be mine

As she traverses the grounds of their last safe haven, she catches the glances between Ginny and Harry, sees the smiles that Lavender and Ron share. She bears witness to the intimacies of friendship and excesses of love, and she finds that it is that much harder to disappear without them.

"It's not going to be easy," she tells him later that night, her fear rampant.

"Only the foolish believe otherwise," he replies, his expectation tangible.

003. Fog

Scream your heart out

She tries to come to terms with what it is he asks of her. She tries to believe that it would be worth it, that she is strong enough to endure it, that she is intelligent enough. But no matter how hard she tries, she cannot force herself to believe it.

In the end, she says yes anyway.

004. Attention

Intricacies like a grain of sand

She stands quite still, taking her last deep breaths. Behind her stands only her old Headmaster. Beside her stands her Potions professor, seven years' courtesy etched in the three feet that lie between them. She nods to no one, and they disapparate.

Are you frightened? he asks in her mind as the grounds of the school disappear behind them.

She replies, Aren't you?

I've done this before, he tells her as they reappear in the graveyard.

005. Eyes

Moments which pass

In the moments between their departure and their arrival, she catches his gaze and does not let go, even when he turns away to call the others.

006. Thrive

Disconsolate children

She turns to him, her once bright eyes now dark, her hair smoothed back, her skin pale. He glances at her, a dark shadow who still cannot fully understand the reasons behind this. The knowledge that she does not, either, furrows his brow as the first pop of a Death eater signals their entry.

007. Sound

Reverberations through time

Pompous rich followers, she thinks as they appear around her. Always making so much noise.

The first one turns to the man beside her. "A mudblood?"

She sees his nose flare. "The Dark Lord requests her."

She cannot see the other man's sneer through his mask, but she knows that it is there.

"Indeed," he murmurs.

008. Ends

Circles refract and bend in two

Hermione thinks that her childhood ended the day she became friends with the Boy Who Lived.

Severus knows that his childhood ended the day he was born.

Neither of them know that the other suspects the same.

"Is it so hard to believe?" she asks him later, much later.

"On the contrary," he says quietly, "it's easier to believe than your presence here."

009. Home

Let's go there

She dreams of them; of her mother's laughter and her father's smile. She has her father's hands and her mother's hair and their love and their joy. She takes it with her and stores it in a place that no darkness will ever be able to reach.

"What was yours like?" she asks him.

"Dark," he says abruptly, and she knows he is lying. "Don't ask inane questions."

She watches him, knowing. "Do you ever miss it?" She asks because she doesn't know like he thinks she knows.

He watches her for a time, then looks away. "No."

010. Jealousy

Take these things and make them mine

He remembers another girl, like her but not quite. She has the same kind of intelligence and cleverness, the same kind of face, though their eyes and hair are much different. But both of them are muggle-borns, and it is this that likens them so in his eyes.

Though she infrequently asks, and he rarely ever answers, she likes to hear about the woman. She compares herself to a female who once captured the heart of a man whose respect was so hard to earn.


Author's Notes. Your thoughts, whether they be screams of rage and warnings to go die, or lovely little comments on a semi-good story, are much appreciated. D