Meatloaf

By Fidelius Charm

Summary: All he had bargained for was a nice home cooked meal. What he ended up getting, well, let's just say it was an after dinner mint of sorts. Oneshot!

Note: This is totally out of my normal writing "box". First I'm writing in the first person, second I'm using Snape as the protagonist. I've never really appreciated Severus until the sixth book oddly enough. He always seemed, to me, to be all talk and no action. Yes he worked as a double agent, but we never really got to see exactly what he did, we just knew that he did it. And even though his action brought the death of my second favorite character in the Harry Potter series I have to say his finally taking some kind of extreme action shocked me but helped me appreciate Severus' character. So you'll probably be seeing more of a "developed" Snape in my fictions. Oh yeah, and if you're curious this is the third installment of my Chronicles of a Bookworm. If anyone cared. Read my profile for more information.

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.

--Albert Schweitzer

"You fuckin' bastard," Were the first words to cross her lips once she had reevaluated the chess board, "You cheated!"

"Have I cheated? Or have I just outplayed you?" I replied, a smirk slowly growing across my features.

I watched as she desperately inspected the board for some hope of freedom. Her normally calm and serious face was contorted with frustration and a sparkle of wounded pride. She then bit her lip and began gnawing at it like she hadn't eaten in weeks.

"You can refrain from biting your lip off Miss. Granger, I'll send one of the house elves to fetch you a snack if you're so desperate to eat something."

My statement did not receive the reaction I was hoping for from the former Head Girl. She remained stoic and concentrated on the board. You could literally see the gears of her mind turning as she planned her next move, but as I saw it there were only two moves she could make, and both of them lead to my undeniable victory.

"Ah-ha!" She exclaimed her features instantly illuminating with joy.

She leaned forwarded in her chair and became eye level with the board, picked up her king side knight and moved it gracefully across the board to the one space I certainly didn't anticipate.

"Checkmate!" She declared, crossing her arms and dawning an arrogant grin.

"This can't be!" I had screamed unknowingly, clutching my hair with my right hand. All my hard work and precise planning had been washing down the drain with one simple move, "You've cheated!"

"Have I cheated? Or have I just outplayed you?" She said using my exact words against me.

There was a long silence between the two of us, one might classify it as awkward but I classified it as mystifying. There was something about it that enthralled me, made me curious about my opponent to learn more about her, because she obviously wasn't acting like her normal self during the intense game.

"Well played Severus." She said returning to her normal disposition. She took a final sip of her tea placed it back on the oak side table. Then stood up, gathering her belongings.

"Miss. Granger?" I questioned curiously, shocked that she had forgotten the entire point of the chess game to begin with, "Our wager?"

"You don't have to it you don't want too." She said simply, turned around and headed towards the door.

"What a very Gryffindor thing to do," I muttered under my breath.

Through the chess game I had seen a side of my former student that I had never imagined existed, or that I was so busy despising her for knowing everything to notice. Her moves on the chessboard were clever, and dare I say Slytherin, luring me into a false sense of security and then crushing me hopelessly. But all of that had been destroyed when she didn't reap the benefits of her victory the way a true Slytherin would, she coiled back into her Gryffindor box.

"A deal's a deal Miss. Granger, and I plan to keep it." I stated.

And that's how I found myself in Hermione Granger's apartment the next night, dressed in my Sunday's best, waiting patiently for a meal I had agreed to eat in the wager.

"It will be done any minute! Prepare you taste buds to be tantalized!" She exclaimed from the kitchen.

"More like destroyed." I found myself saying aloud.

"What did you say!" She said her head popping out of the kitchen, a look of fury plastered on her face.

"Nothing, nothing at all." I said trying to avoid any confrontation. It had been bad enough that I had to deal with losing to her and having to eat something that she cooked herself. The last thing I wanted was her to try and really poison my food in order to commence some kind of revenge plan for all the things I had ever done to her through out the years. I looked around her apartment, and it was nothing I had thought it would be.

I had imagined Hermione Granger as an organized, neat freak; obsessively cleaning the specks of dust as the fell onto a surface. But I was wrong, there were books scattered throughout the tiny apartment, opened, marked and roughly used. A miniature potion lab set up in the middle of the living room, with remnants of failed experiments bottled and kept bottled up in boxes underneath a coffee table. Her cat roamed freely amongst the chaos, knocking into things once in awhile.

"Your apartment is in appalling shape Miss. Granger." I said aloud, instantly regretting the statement.

"Sorry, being an Curse Breaker doesn't leave much time for domestic chores Professor." She said coldly as she placed a dish of mixed peas and carrots on the table.

"I find time to balance my life."

"Life, Professor?" She questioned me, "I didn't know you had such a thing being stuffed up in your dungeons all the time."

I gave her a dangerous look, telling her silently that she was crossing the line. But either she didn't noticed or ignore it,

"I mean do you even date? I haven't seen you have a girlfriend in…forever! Literally!" Hermione said walking back into the kitchen and returning with a dish of mash potatoes in one hand and some biscuits in another. She placed them on the table and walked back into the kitchen.

I felt my blood pressure rise to a brand new height, I could feel my ears burn in frustration. How dare she mention my lack of a significant other! I didn't see her running around with anyone either.

"I don't see you running around with a man on your arm either."

"I don't have time for that. I'm always working, but you Professor have off this summer, you could be cursing for chicks as we speak. But alas, you're here with book worm Granger." She said from the kitchen.

"First off I do not go 'cruising for chicks." I replied, "And second I am not here by choice. I'm here because I lost a bet."

"And here I thought you were here because you really did want a home cooked meal."

"Trust me, I'd go to Nymphadora before I came to you for a home cooked meal. And that's saying a lot."

With that she walked in with the last tray a large brown hunk of meat with bacon on the top. I stared at it questionably.

"It's meatloaf." She said in a defensive tone, "Try it before you say anything about it. It's my mother's recipe."

She cut me a portion of it and placed it into my plate. She was about to pour gravy on it, but I refused. I wasn't much of a gravy guy. She did the same for herself and continued on to serve herself peas, carrots, and mashed potatoes. I did the same, because I was very hungry. I cut into the hunk of chopped meat and put it into my mouth. I chewed for a few seconds and then it hit me. The taste was fantastic, it was nothing overwhelming, and it was simple and delicious.

"Do you like it?" She asked, a hopeful look on her face. And I wasn't the one who was going to feed into that.

"It's alright." I replied nonchalantly, "But I've had better."

Her hopeful expression died the minute I had finished my sentence. She looked straight at her plate and began vigorously cutting, scratching the plate. She seemed frustrated and I couldn't seem to figure out why. I was partially honest, and why would Hermione Granger care about her ex-Professor's opinion on her cooking anyway?

"Are you alright Miss. Granger?" I asked, taking a sip of my water.

She slammed her silverware on the table and began crying. I watched as her tears dripped down her cheeks and into her plate creating a muddy mess of the leftover gravy and potatoes. I was speechless; I never had to deal with crying woman before (except for that one year at the Graduation Feast where some 7th year thought it would be fun to place a Hysteria Potion into Minerva's goblet. But then there had been an antidote.).

"What's the matter?" I questioned again.

"Lavender was right! I'm a horrible cook, no man is ever going to love me if I can't cook!" Hermione said her voice sounding desperate and hurt.

"I highly doubt a man will base his choice to ask him to marry you based on your cooking skills." I said, trying my best to comfort the girl.

"Oh sure, like you would know!" She shouted, she got up and retreated into the kitchen.

I sat in my seat for a moment, stunned into immobility. What exactly was going on? A simple dinner could not have caused Hermione Granger to breakdown the way she did. I needed to find out what the hell was going on. So I got up and followed my former student into her kitchen.

"I'm sorry." She said, "For forcing you to come."

"You didn't force me. I came of my own volition." I stated.

"That's not what you said before!" She shouted backed pulling out a bottle of wine and a wine class.

"Forget what I said before." I took a deep breath, I knew I would never get to live the next few words down, "I really did want to come, and I enjoy your company."

She began pouring the red wine into her glass and then proceeded to down it. I had never seen anyone drink red wine as violently as I saw her drink the red wine.

"Do you mean it?" She said suppressing a hiccup.

"Yes."

"Thank you." She whispered.

She walked up to me, and became dangerously close. I smelt something familiar on her breath as she came even closer. I couldn't place my finger on it. But before I could continue my thoughts I was interrupted by lips being placed upon mine. I didn't response right away, being completely shocked for the second time in one night, but responded the second I pieced the entire puzzle together. This certainly was one hell of a meatloaf dinner.

I had found out a few days later that Lavender Brown had helped Hermione cook her dinner and had snuck in Confusing Concoction into the gravy. What she was trying to achieve was beyond me, but Hermione thinks she was trying to get the two of them 'together'. I think I should send that girl flowers, she definitely earned them.

What did you think? This is my first attempt at SS/HG so be nice! Constructive criticism is always enjoyed.

Until next time!

--FC