A/N Okay guys, I was nervous posting my first chapter yesterday, but you guys seemed to banish the nervousness! I was so excited to see the reviews I got! So happy, in fact, that I'm going to give you all a shout out!
Shorty653
Decadenceofmysoul
NevermoreBlack
Allter
Thank you guys so much! You seriously have no idea how much your comments warmed my soul. To the ones who made predictions about Hermione's heritage- this is the chapter for you! I was honestly just so happy that my story got favourited and reviewed and all that jazz, that I was inspired to sit down and type some more!
Still not beta-d, so please excuse any spelling/grammar errors.
Much love & thanks for reading,
galassialuna
Chapter Two
Hermione groaned as she rolled over- or attempted to, at least. Her movement was blocked by a strong set of arms that were wrapped firmly around her. She smiled to herself and snuggled deeper into Severus' embrace. She would give herself a few more minutes of blissful rest before waking up to take on th-
"Hermione?!" Her silent musing was broken by the outraged screech of one Ronald Weasley. "We've been looking all over for you- all bloody night we couldn't find you- and here you are, all cuddled up with the greasy git of the dungeons? What the bloody hell is going on?"
Hermione groaned again, this time in annoyance, before carefully extracting herself from the Potion Master's embrace. She shrugged her shoulders to stretch them before realizing that she should still be in her phoenix form, as that was what she fell asleep in. Odd, she thought.
She blinked tiredly up at her two irate looking 'friends'.
"He's right, Herms! This is strange! Why does Snape look so young? Why isn't he dead? I thought he dies before giving me his memories? I cleared the git's name and everything, everyone knows he wasn't a traitor now, 'cause I thought he was dead! Anyways, you need to come with us and help in the hospital wing! You need to identify some curses and hexes; I'm sure you can because you've read all about everything. Ron and I have a victory speech to give, so we just came to get you before going to that." Harry rambled, oblivious to the glares he was receiving from Hermione and the now-awake Severus.
"I need to come with you?" Hermione asked quietly, strongly emphasizing the second word with a hardness in her voice.
"Well, yeah, Herms, you ought to come make yourself useful instead of sleeping on the floor of a broken shack with a traitor, murderer, greasy git!" Ron exclaimed in outrage.
"Well, not a traitor and murderer anymore," Harry mumbled.
"Now listen here, Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter," Hermione seethed, rising to her feet. Severus took her outstretched hand and stood beside her. "First of all, I have told you a countless number of times to not call me that awful name. My name is Hermione. If you can't pronounce it by now, there is obviously something seriously wrong with your brains. Secondly, I don't need to do a single bloody thing for you!
"For seven years- seven years I have stood by your side, Harry. When Ron abandoned you and thought you the Heir of Slytherin or that you put your name in the Goblet intentionally, who was there? Me! Your other best friend! But you never remembered that, did you?"
Harry looked slightly sheepish and started to open his mouth, but Hermione quickly cut him off.
"I have stood by your side through thick and thin. I have taken the blame for your misgivings, served detentions that were given due to your actions and what have I gotten in return? Made fun of! Called a know it all, a prude, no fun. Ron, on more than one occasion, you taunted me about my upbringing, and Harry, you stood by and just let it happen! Which makes zero sense to me, because you're an orphan too, but I guess having a home to live in and people to call your family makes a bit of a difference." She trailed off to brush tears from her eyes, then looked back at her friends with mirth clearly visible in her chocolate orbs.
"I am smart. I'm smarter than the both of you put together, and hell, I'm probably smarter than most of the teachers at this school! But I was not very intelligent during our so-called friendship. Time and time again, you used me. Both of you bloody used my brain to help you pass your classes and fight against Voldemort, and I let you! But now? Now, I'm done. I will not let you walk all over me. I have no intentions to let you boys make me feel like garbage for even one second longer. I have done my part and helped defeat Voldemort, but at what cost? Did you look for me last night after the battle? No! You were too busy getting absorbed in the cheers of the crowd! I have sacrificed so much, I should've been there beside you last night! But no, let's not include the know-it-all-bookworm in the party! Do either of you even know what I went through at Malfoy Manor?"
"Well I imagine it weren't too bad or you'd have said something before now, huh?" Ron spoke.
Hermione glared fiercely at the red-headed idiot that she had called a friend for seven years.
"Wasn't." She said.
Ron and Harry looked at her, confused.
"You said weren't too bad. You should've said wasn't. But that isn't the main point here." Hermione shook her head slightly as she paused to pull the sleeve of her sweater to her elbow, exposing the crude, still weeping, scar that Bellatrix had gifted her with. "Do you think this isn't too bad?" She spat at Ron.
Now, Ron was never an overly intelligent boy, Hermione knew that, but she never expected him to say the next words that came out of his mouth.
"Well it's true, isn't it?"
Hermione saw red. She was violently shaking with her anger. Severus placed his hands around her waist and pulled her body flush with his, trying to calm her down somewhat.
"Breathe, love. Breathe." He soothed.
The glow that had enveloped the pair during the night returned, causing the dunderhead duo to cry out in surprise and cover their eyes. Hermione relaxed into Severus as the light danced around her, soothing her to her very core. Before her eyes, the light seeped into her scar and instantly, it started to fade. Whatever Olde Magick that had taken a liking to Severus and Hermione had seen fit to heal all of her war wounds. Severus, too, noticed that any wounds which weren't already healed by Hermione had begun to heal and fade.
The Magick stayed with them for a few moments before dissipating.
Ron un-covered his eyes and stared at his former professor and best friend, his mouth agape.
"How in the bloody hell did you two manage to get soul bonded?!" he screamed at the pair.
Harry startled. "Soul bonded? To the greasy git? Come on, Herms, you need to come with us now and get this bloody mess sorted! This is wrong, this is so wrong!"
"You obviously weren't paying attention to me when I was speaking earlier, and I'm honestly not too surprised by that at this point. However, I will reiterate two things for your sake, Harry. One, MY NAME IS HERMIONE!" she shouted. "And, two, I do not NEED to do anything with you or for you! I'm realizing that I was never actually valued as your friend, so why keep pretending? Neither of you have denied it. You only come to me when you need something, and I am sick of being used by you! And that comment, what Ron just said to me? How could I ignore that?" Her voice broke at the last two sentences.
Severus hugged Hermione tighter and whispered in her ear, the silky baritone sending shivers down her spine. "Are you ready to go, love? We can pop into my room to shower and get clean clothing, then go get that inheritance test done. Maybe pop in and talk to Minerva? It appears that we have a few things to chat about."
Hermione smiled up at him over her shoulder and nodded.
"Now, you two dunderheads need to get it through your thick skulls that Hermione is no longer at your beck and call. She will not help you when you get stuck in a pile of dragon dung, so you two are bound to do sooner, rather than later. Hermione is a brilliant individual and will be treated as such. When you feel the need to try and repair the damage you've just done, wait another week before owling me. Do not try to contact her or I will hunt you down and make your lives even more miserable than they were before. You will think Voldemort a walk in the park compared to myself if you fail to do as I have instructed."
Severus was pleased to note that, even though he appeared to be around twenty or so years younger than normal, that he still possessed the ability to scare the shite out of children- even children who just aided in the fall of a Dark Lord. And with that thought, Severus apparated himself and Hermione into his rooms in the dungeon of the castle.
A slightly confused and very grouchy duo of boys were left in the Shrieking Shack, wondering when their acting skills had started to slip enough that Hermione knew she wasn't really their friend. They looked at each other and shrugged.
"Oh well," began Harry. "She's just the bookworm who helped us pass our classes and thought of ideas to take down Voldemort. But with the war over, what else can she do for us?" he asked his best friend.
"Very true, Harry, my man." Ron grinned stupidly. "We don't need that bint following us around and begging for friendship- you're the bloody chosen one! We helped kill Voldemort! She doesn't have anything on that!"
Harry nodded, smiling slightly before frowning. "Too bad we didn't get her to identify that curse that Fred was hit with though. Your mum will be upset."
"I know, mate, but old Pomfrey will be able to figure it out! We'll have Fred back as right as rain soon enough."
Harry nodded again to his friend again as they turned on their heels and started the long trek back to the Great Hall, which was currently being used as hospital wing to house the numerous dead and injured.
Hermione moaned in pure happiness as the flow of water from the showerhead ran over her. It had been months since she last had a proper shower, and she was relieved to have that luxury once again. Sighing contentedly, she reached for the bottle of shampoo that she had left in Severus' rooms nearly a year before.
Over the course of her sixth year, Hermione and Severus spent many late nights together in his chambers in the dungeon. They did this so often that Severus decided he would set up his spare room for Hermione to use, which she ended up using more often than not. They had cleared it with Professor McGonagall and assured her that nothing untoward was happening between them, simply a close friendship. Minerva had seemed surprised, but pleased, and graciously granted the pair their request.
Lathering her hand with vanilla-mint scented conditioner, to match the shampoo, Hermione coaxed her fingers through the tangle of wild curls that adorned her head. Three helpings of conditioner later, she was able to run her hands smoothly through her hair, without snagging a stray knot. She smiled and rinsed the soap from her hair before shutting the water off.
Stepping from the shower with a towel wrapped firmly around her body, Hermione glanced in the mirror. She was pleased to note that she looked ten times better than she had only twenty minutes previously. She casually waved her hand, causing her hair to dry instantly and fall in neat ringlet curls to her waist. Wandless magic was another thing she and Severus had developed together. It certainly had come in handy during the Final Battle. Hermione flicked her hand a second time, pinning the top half of her hair behind her head in a pony-tail to keep it out of her face. She waved her hand a third time, adding the normal, minimal amount of makeup to her face- some mascara and dark burgundy lip tint. She favoured darker lip tint colours because she knew Severus liked when she wore them.
Hermione retreated into her room to find some clothing. Now that she didn't have to worry about her unsightly scars showing, thanks to the wonderful Magick that had somehow bound her and Severus, Hermione smiled and picked out a white dress. It was a fit-and-flare style that fell halfway to her knees and was held up by off-the-shoulder straps. She chose a matching pair of white ballet flats and smoothed her left hand over the bodice of the dress, disbanding any wrinkles that had formed.
That was when she noticed the vine-like pattern that was swirled around her ring finger. It was gorgeous, and very obviously gifted to her by the Olde Magick. The vines twisted around her finger and branched into the Triskelia- the symbol of Merlin. She made a mental note to see if Severus had a matching one, which she was willing to bet he did.
Seeing the Triskelia on her finger awoke something deep inside Hermione. She knew, from her extensive and slightly obsessive reading habit, that the Triskelia was the only known symbol that Merlin identified with. Merlin himself had a tattoo of the Triskele on the inside of his left wrist. It was never seen on another witch, wizard, or muggle. Though many tried to magically tattoo themselves with the symbol, it always morphed into something different; never settling on the Triskelia.
Hermione was determined to find out why exactly she was embellished with the symbol of the greatest wizard in history. Merlin was, well, Merlin! He was extraordinarily powerful, never requiring a wand. He had multiple Animagus forms, and it was even said that he could harness the power of the elements. Both were unheard of until Merlin, and Merlin remained the only wizard to date that had more than two Animagus forms.
"Until me," Hermione realized aloud, thinking on her four physical forms. Excitement bubbled up in her. Could she somehow be related to Merlin?
Severus appeared in Hermione's doorway. "Until you, what?" he inquired.
Wordlessly, Hermione held out her left hand so Snape could see the tattooed design. He nodded slightly before holding his own hand out.
"I suppose you're behind this, then?" He teased.
"Sev, I honestly think my blood could have something to do with it," Hermione answered as she bit her lower lip in concentration. "Think about it, what has happened lately that's odd? Besides a psychopathic Dark Lord, of course."
"Let's see," Snape drawled. "Supposed soul bond, healing from the Olde Magick, permanent rings, also from the Olde Magick," He listed, checking each thing off on his fingers.
"And what do they all have in common?"
Realization bloomed in Severus' eyes. "I'm obviously a little slow this morning, or I would've clued in earlier. They're all associated with Merlin."
"Exactly! The Triskelia has never been seen on anyone besides Merlin. Could this mean I'm a descendent of him? But even if I were, why would it only show up today? And does the soul bond have anything to do with it, if it even is a soul bond?" Hermione began rambling.
Severus took three strides forward until he was directly in front of Hermione.
"Shh, love," he said. "We'll get answers. I sent Minerva a Patronus, and was shocked, by the way, to see that my Patronus has changed."
Hermione looked up at Severus, the question clear in her eyes.
"Expecto Patronum," Severus breathed, waving his hand slightly. Immediately, a phoenix burst forth, followed by a fox, a boa constrictor, and finally, a raven. The four forms had replaced that of a doe, which Severus had as hid Patronus since he was a teenager.
Hermione's eyes grew round. "Expecto Patronum," she whispered. The same corporeal quartet sprung from her hand, replacing the previous cheerful otter that had stood by Hermione for the past two years.
The creatures were exact replicas of the ones that came from Snape only moments before and represented the two in their Animagus forms. Well, mostly, anyway. Severus had mastered his raven form many years ago and discovered his phoenix form with Hermione in her sixth year. He was baffled at the sudden appearance of his fire-y alter-ego, but thought it had something to do with his resident know-it-all, which he affectionately called Hermione.
Hermione, though, had mastered all four of her forms. The phoenix came to her first, rare as it was to have a magical creature Animagus form. Next came the boa constrictor, which didn't much surprise her because of her Parseltongue abilities. Then was the fox, followed quickly by the raven. Hermione thought that the raven came forth because of her close connection to Severus. Severus, of course, scoffed at this and made a teasing comment about her over-achieving in all aspects of her life by having four different Animagus forms.
Hermione and Severus stood together, watching their Patronus' dance around the room before fading.
"We really need some answers, Sev," Hermione whispered, wrapping her arms around Snape's waist and burying her head in his chest.
"We'll get them, Mia," He replied, wrapping his arms around her and resting his chin on her head. He smirked slightly, happy that he was still tall enough to do so in his age-reduced state.
Hermione pulled back slightly to look up at Severus. "Mia?" She asked.
Snape shrugged. "You call me Sev, so I thought I would give you a nickname as well. But if you don't like it," he trailed off.
"Shush, I love it!" Hermione exclaimed. "And besides, anything is better than being called 'Herms'." She said with disgust.
"Well then, my Mia,"
Hermione giggled. Snape placed one finger over her lips to stop her before continuing.
"Shall we away to Gringotts? Methinks the lady doth have a test to complete."
Hermione giggled again, which was Severus' intention.
"Methinks we shall," she answered, still giggling, and with a barely audible pop, they apparated to Diagon Alley.