A.N: Chapter 2 my beloved readers, I am amazed at the response this story has already had, which is why I have chosen to create the new chapter so quickly. Thank you to all my reviewers and followers, please keep on doing this it makes me very smiley. :D
Chapter 2
Hermione took a moment to completely compose herself as she slammed the door against the growing wind blizzard outside. Breathing deeply, she raised her hands to her face and rubbed her eyes, she knew this confrontation was going to be more than stressful. Running her hands through her hair, she paused when she felt material, 'Oh Merlin' she was still wearing her cleaning turban. Hermione yanked off the offending garment and tossed it up the stairs and out of sight, the last thing she needed was snide remarks from Snape about her personal appearance.
"I repeat Miss Granger," he began as she stepped into the lounge, after a quick ruffle of her hair. "Why are you here in my village?"
"I would hardly call this Mill Town a village Professor," Hermione was endeavouring to keep the conversation polite, yet this was already difficult, and she had only uttered her first sentence.
"This was a village when I was a boy, before the Muggles... industrialised it. I choose to see it as the diminutive village it was, instead of the dark smog induced town it has become. If you make me repeat my initial question Miss Granger, I'm not going to be overly pleased; I would hate to lose my alcohol induced stupor by having to indulge in enlightening an idiot."
'So that was the reason behind Snape's boldness,' Hermione deduced, he was drunk.
"If you permit me Sir, I shall answer your question with a question of my own," Snape did not look as if he would even permit the wind to blow, yet he stayed silent.
"Why are you, a known Murderer, hanging around my new home? Questioning me about my movements? It is not me who is a wanted commodity Professor." Snape had the grace to look away at this comment and instead of facing Hermione; he directed his foul expression towards the even more foul curtains Hermione had yet to rip down.
"You still believe me to be a murderer Miss Granger?" He asked, once he had his temper in check again. 'It wouldn't do to anger the girl, after all she been a known recluse for almost a year and Merlin knows how twisted the powerful witches mind had gotten in that time'. Severus Snape did not fear Hermione Granger, the chit of the girl was no match for him magic wise, no. It was more that he feared what the girl represented...a life he had hidden from since the fall of the Dark Lord.
"There is no proof to say otherwise Professor," Hermione crossed her arms, but remained mindful of her exits. Hermione was well aware of the danger she had put herself in by answering the door to this man, yet curiosity much like Severus's own, had prevented her from slamming the door in his face. When she considered him for a moment, they had one thing in common...both were hiding from the Wizarding world in this old dingy town. That, she reminded herself, was the only thing they did have in common.
"You still haven't answered my question Granger," Severus was beginning to grow tired of this charade. He was the way was, because he had chosen to be so, to never divulge his real intents behind his double agent status, in the war. He saw his own damn good luck at having taken precautions against Nagini's venom that evening, as a chance to start anew, away from the Wizarding world. Yes, he would be known as a murderer, but he would be free of the magical communities' taunts and mistrust...after all who would ever really trust a reformed Death Eater? Even as he was thinking this and staring in the eye line of a hopping mad Hermione Granger, he knew his actions had been foolish...but he was stuck with them, and had to take whatever came his way... he had made his choice.
"I'm here because it's the only place I can afford on my salary; I need to be close to the city for work." Hermione was uncertain as to why she had spilled her guts to the intimidating man; however she had never been able to prevent her mouth running away with her when it came to Snape as a student at Hogwarts. This surprised the man and dragged him from his reverie with a jolt; Severus raised his eyebrow in curiosity at her honesty.
"I believed you were working for the Daily Prophet? Before you...found other occupation," Snape said with interest, "But looking around, I see things can change...for the worse."
"Get out! Get out of my house Snape, and never darken my doorstep again. I don't need your filth in this place; I've enough to contend with without you adding to it, you despicable old man." Hermione was shouting now, she felt her anger rising. Hermione then pointed at the door and stamped her foot, childish she knew, but this was her home and how she acted was her own business.
"Very well Miss Granger, and don't worry I won't alert the golden duo as to your whereabouts, and I expect the same courtesy from you."
"Gladly," Hermione said before spitting on her hand and sticking it out to Snape. She knew it was disgusting, but it was better than the unbreakable vow.
"Miss Granger," Severus took the dripping hand without hesitation before sweeping out of the door, slamming it behind him. She watched him stride down the street before collapsing on her only item of furniture, her box, for support.
"Oh Mum, I wish you were here now, you'd know what to do," with that statement directed towards a rickety looking chandelier, she let the tears fall and make their own tracks on the dusty floor, as the lonely girl once again mourned a loss no magic would ever cure.
As Severus Snape crashed into his own home with equal mirth, to the way he had slammed Hermione's front door, he had cursed his own weakness for following the girl and then proceeding to bang on her house for answers. 'That was idiotic Severus' he chided himself, 'you are a wanted man and you've just willingly revealed yourself to one of the Golden Trio, granted she was the most level headed of the three. He had been surprised that Hermione had even let him cross her threshold, correction Lily Evan's threshold. Once again it had been his own hidden desires that had made him want to get another look in the home of his childhood love. When the Evan's had moved away, he had desperately wanted to spend time in that house, to gain a sense of how this woman, Harry Potter's mother, had lived in her own home. Surely it would have been a happier existence than his own childhood had been. As a boy, he would spend many hours sitting upon the roof of the Evan's coal shed hoping for a glimpse of the family life that he so dreamed of. Now he had finally been able to see inside the shell of a once desired family home, he was...disappointed. The house was even drearier than his own had been... and that was saying something. Now he had witnessed the actual home of Lily Evans, owned by Hermione Granger, he was not so interested in the property itself anymore, but the woman who residing in it. For she was a woman of almost twenty four he would guess, if her career span was anything to go by. Although a recluse, Severus still deigned to read the Daily Prophet and keep up with the Wizarding world, he had been very shocked the day he learned of Miss Granger's disappearance and thus, this had intrigued him further when he had eventually had a sighting of the enigma of a girl.
Shaking off the peculiar feeling of interest that was beginning to grow surrounding Miss Granger, Severus marched into his kitchen and began to rummage in the cupboards. Severus had little or no interest in girl when she had been his student; he was only forced to deal with her on a daily basis due to her closeness with Potter, and his orders to keep the boy safe...although Hermione didn't know this. As Snape flung a Fray and Bentos tinned meat pie into the oven, he forwent magic when it came to cooking, and Gamp's law prevented any conjuring of food, he tipped the pie lid into the bin and propped himself up against the counter with a whiskey, to reflect upon the night of Voldemort's down fall.
Severus's body was white hot with unimaginable pain as he felt the pressure of the snake, as she pulled away from his tender flesh. She showed no mercy for man, she was after all, only following the orders of the being that she sensed loved her. Severus's hand clutched to his throat in an attempt to stop the bleeding, he knew it was fruitless to use his own digits, he needed Dittany, yet he felt paralysed. 'Move Severus' the only part of his comprehensive brain urged, he had to get back to his lab, but the white hot pain prevented any movement. Severus had some recollection of lapsing into unconsciousness until the heat began to subside in his body...by some miracle...by some unknown miracle... the blood replenishing potion he had drunk only hours before had begun to take effect. Severus had awoken in the Shrieking Shack alone, and had used the opportunity to drag his weakened body to the apparition point outside of the school. It was true the short journey had been arduous, but Severus had known this was his only chance to disappear, he had been given a second chance at life, and he would take a quiet existence over his own punishment any day.
Now as he watched his meal bubbling in the oven, he knew had been a coward, but one day maybe he would come clean. But in doing so he would need to declare the secrets of his past, and this was something he was not ready to do. He would need to come to terms with Lily himself before allowing the world to come to terms with his affection. Turning the oven off Severus grabbed his half drunk bottle of Muggle whiskey and stepped into his lounge. Pointing at the fire with his wand, he lit up the room with the flames in the hearth. Severus sat on the mohair rug and took a sip from his glass, if the life he had chosen was the best for him in the long run, why did it feel like such a huge mistake? Why was he so alone?