QLFC ROUND ONE
Write about chaser 2's NOTP (Snape/Hermione)
AU where Hermione is a few years younger than Snape and working at a hospital with Lily.
Prompts: 1- (word) lovely, 9- (song) Dollhouse by Melanie Martinez, 13- (word) liar
Word count: 2,558
The lime green color of her uniform wasn't doing her any favors, at least her curly brown hair was pulled into a ponytail that made it look a little neater. Unlike most of the nurses in St. Mungo's Hospital, she kept her make-up light and applied only a thin coat of mascara and chapstick from a Muggle corner shop.
The other nurses and Hermione were all good at one thing; pretending. As soon as they would walk out of their dressing rooms, they would pretend to be as perfect as the hospital board required. After all, they were practically the face of St. Mungo's.
A knock on the door made her snap out of her daze of thoughts. Around her, she saw a few other girls look alert; one immediately wiped away her tears, another wiped a layer of makeup to hide the dark circles around her eyes. Not wanting to waste any time, Hermione closed her locker and rushed to walk out of the room, noticing the other nurses doing the same. She was the first of them to step into the crowded hallway of the hospital and reach the nurse station, where other girls were gathering, ready for a new day of work.
The group of nurses wasn't big, eight to be exact, all of them looking ''pretty'', smiling at each other and at anyone who looked at them. They stood in a line, making their looks perfect with a few last touches, like pushing a hair aside or straightening the uniform with their hands. Hermione tightened her ponytail and straightened her back, as the woman in charge of them appeared, giving all of them a quick look, before telling them to attend their usual patients.
After wishing the other girls a nice day, the curly-haired witch headed to the area where her patients lied, already going through a list of things that she needed to do in her head. Her steps were quick and light, helping her to slip between people with a polite smile. Not wanting to waste any time, she began to work straight away, making sure to take an interest in all of her patients and show them nothing but confidence.
It took her over an hour to get to one of her preferred patients; Severus Snape. He was only a few years older than her, with dark hair and dark eyes, but pale skin as a contrast to those. He had been a patient of hers for a month, although it felt like more than that. While other patients complained, yelled and mistreated her, he was always calm and collected, no matter how bad his condition was. That day, he was awake, lying in his bed and reading a book. She approached him with a smile, studying him as she did; his hair was messily brushed away from his face and his long fingers were holding the book, his eyes skimming through the lines of the book.
''Good morning,'' she greeted him and his gaze met hers, causing her smile to slightly widen.
''Miss Granger,'' he replied and got back to his book, flipping a page.
Severus might have been a pleasant patient, but he was quite a cold person and she was aware of that from the very beginning. Every once in a while, with a lot of effort involved, she could make the smallest hint of a smile appear on his features. Full smiles were very rare, laughs were unthinkable; however, Hermione was a determined girl.
''How's the book?'' she asked, trying to start a conversation.
Turning away from him, she carefully pulled the curtains open, letting the morning sun shine into the room.
''Awful, yet it's not like I have a big variety here,'' Severus said in a bitter tone that didn't surprise her.
Facing him again, a smile still on her face, she tilted her head to the side and glanced at the cover of the book, which was a book she quite disliked herself.
''If you want, I can always get you a different one; I have many books that I've already read at home,'' she suggested.
Instead of giving her a clear answer, the wizard hummed and continued to read. Hermione's shoulder fell with a hint of disappointment, and she moved her attention to the machines that were beeping next to him; magic could do many things, but not everything.
While she was writing down a few things on the clipboard that was attached to the end of his bed, she couldn't help but steal a few glances at him. He wasn't the most handsome, or the funniest, or even the nicest, yet he was intelligent, a little mysterious, and whenever she managed to make him almost smile, joy and satisfaction would fill her.
''I'm going to need to take a look at those wounds,'' she said once she was finished writing.
She put the clipboard back at its place and approached him again, watching him put his book on the bedside table to his right.
With a few winces, he pulled the side of his shirt up, revealing the skin of his hip and the reason to why he was in the hospital; three deep scratches and a few dark spots on his skin. Initially, the bruises caused him an infection and even though he denied it, Hermione and his healer knew he waited a few days before coming to St. Mungo's.
Quietly, the curly witch inspected his wounds. It seemed to her that the treatment he was receiving was working; his skin was still split, but the scratches themselves weren't as deep and the dark colors that covered his skin were fading.
''How do you feel?'' she asked Severus and stepped back, who took the movement as a sign to let his shirt drop and cover his injury again.
The raven haired man said, ''Less dreadful than yesterday.''
Her head titled to the side, giving him a short glare. ''And on a scale between one and ten?''
''A seven,'' he replied. ''But, my normal answer would be eight, so it's alright.''
A small smile settled on the nurse's lips and she handed him back the dark binding book. Their gazes met as he took it, resulting in the feel of butterflies in her stomach. She had a small crush on him, she was aware, as unprofessional as it may have been. Employees at a place like St. Mungo's were definitely not supposed to have a crush on one of their patients. Severus lied back in his bed, while she hoped that her cheeks weren't colored with a blush.
''Your condition improved a lot. The healer might let you go home; he should be here soon,'' she told him.
''Lovely,'' he muttered in a voice that made Hermione wonder why he was this indifferent about going home or staying in the hospital, and if there was something in his life that he preferred to stay away from.
Pushing her hands into her pockets, she continued to smile.
''Have a good day, sir,'' she said before heading to the closed door of his room.
''Miss,'' Severus' voice made her stop in her tracks and heart began to beat faster. Her brown eyes found his again with a hopeful look that he didn't notice. ''Could you look for Healer Lily Evans for me? She works here and I am to be released today, I'd like to see her before I leave.''
The words made Hermione's heart drop into her stomach, her hopes shattering. It wasn't unknown to her that he and Lily knew each other, she saw her visit him a few times. The truth is, she was jealous; Hermione hoped that maybe, he would take her up on the offer to bring him a different book, at least.
''Of course,'' she said in a quieter voice and with a short nod.
Without another word, she left the room, her mood darker than before. She continued with her work, but her thoughts kept coming back to Severus Snape and his request.
About four hours later, Hermione was standing at the nurse station, nervously biting on her lip. She just heard that Severus Snape was going to be discharged, like she thought, which got her to debate for longer than probably necessary about his request. As a nurse in St. bloody Mungo's, of course she needed to do what he asked her to, but she was considering very seriously to give up the image of the perfect nurse just this once.
Healers, nurses, patients and visitor passed by her, each one headed in their own direction. She watched them quietly, smiling for a moment whenever she saw a familiar face. A part of her was hoping that Healer Evans would appear on her own, which, as much as she would hate it, would save her the trouble of actually going to look for the redhead.
However, it seemed that nothing that would make things easy for Hermione was going to happen. With a sigh, she got up from the chair she has been occupying, and headed to the stairs to the fourth floor, where she knew Lily should be. Her feet and heart felt heavier with each step she took and she tried not to think too much of what she would say or what would happen. Whatever was to come, she assumed wouldn't be in her best. However, she needed to do this, for him.
She walked in through a pair of heavy doors and glanced around. It felt strange being on a different floor of the hospital, she wasn't used to it, which only made Hermione feel and look more nervous. Before she could even start looking for Lily, someone called her and she spotted another nurse whom she knew. The two talked for a minute, catching up and the curly-haired witch knew it was her opportunity to find the healer easily. Fortunately, the other nurse knew to tell her where the doctor was and they said their goodbyes.
Following the directions that she got, Hermione quietly walked through a side hallway, her eyes moving around, worried that the person she was looking for was going to pass by without her noticing. Her hands were pushed into her pockets again and she simply wished to be done with the bloody task. She was about to turn into another part of the hallway, when she saw a familiar redhead witch, who, to Hermione's surprise, was very close to a dark haired man. The nurse froze in her step and watched, gasping. The couple walked into a room after a few seconds and by their giggles and touches, she knew exactly what they were about to do. This was definitely on the list of things she was told were forbidden to the hospital staff, when she first joined.
If there was a scenario that the nurse hasn't imagined when she was previously sitting at her desk, it was this one. She didn't know how to feel; she wanted to be relieved, she was, but then she thought about Severus and an unpleasant feeling tied itself to her stomach. Shaking her head, she turned around and went down the same way she came. Her feet carried her quickly through the hospital, until she was back at her station, her chest rising and falling more quickly than normal and her gaze set in the direction where a different dark haired man was.
Merlin knew what the scene she just witnessed meant to him; Hermione was never sure how Severus felt about his friend. Either way, she decided, telling him about it wasn't her place or a good idea. Her fingers tapped on the wooden surface of the nurse station, while she wondered what to do next, more specifically, if she should face Severus again, or at all.
Seeing a healer exit Severus' room, she snapped out of her thoughts and watched as he approached her, smiling.
''How are you, Miss Granger?'' the older man asked and she replied with a nod, worried that she would say something stupid, if she would open her mouth. ''I just signed the discharge paper for Mr. Snape, he'll be heading home now.''
The news brought back her courage and she quickly said, ''That's fantastic. I'm going to see if he needs help with anything.''
No matter what Lily did, Hermione couldn't let Severus walk away without seeing him one last time. She slipped past the doctor and headed to her patient's room, her steps filled with eagerness to get to him in time.
The door to Severus' room was still open, only now he was sitting on the edge of his bed, an expression she couldn't recognized on his face. She stopped at the doorway and looked at him, which was all it took for her to realize that he was in fact waiting for Lily. The thought made her feel a sting of bitterness and for the first time, she scolded Healer Evans, whom she always appreciated and looked up to. Not wanting to think of it any longer, Hermione knocked on the door and forced herself to smile at the man.
''I was right, then,'' she said, referring to her statement from earlier about his discharge.
''You were,'' Severus replied in an almost bored tone.
Slightly hesitant, she took two steps into his room and asked, ''Do you need help with anything?''
Her question brought some sort of negative energy that was easily spotted on his face.
''Did you find her?'' he asked after a short pause.
She should have known her question would lead to this. She glanced at the floor and intertwined her fingers, before looking at him again and saying, ''No, I'm sorry.''
The look he gave her was bored.
''Liar,'' he said quietly.
''Sorry?'' she asked in surprise, her eyebrows raised, not sure she heard him correctly.
''You're lying,'' he replied simply. ''You might be smart, but I can see into your mind; Legilimency, you see. I don't blame you, though; I was the one who asked you to go and look for her.''
Then, he got up and walked to the end of the bed, where a medium sized bag was lying. He picked it up and headed to the door, until he stopped next to her for a moment, causing her breath to hitch and erase her wondering about why he was suddenly rushing to leave.
''Also, I'm sorry your feelings aren't mutual,'' he told her, giving away no emotion as usual.
Hermione tensed, but he was already out of the room, continuing his way outside.
Although he surprised her three times in no longer than three minutes, she couldn't help but to walk into the hallway and watch him walk away. Taking in a deep breath, she hated how sad she felt about him being gone. Since the day she had realized her feelings for him, she knew things would end this way, at least when it came to him and her. And while it hurt her more than she wanted it to, with everything she had recently found out, she was relieved.