Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: Apologies in advance for any spelling and/or grammatical errors, this is unbeta'd. This is just a short interlude of sorts. Just something to let you all know I'm not abandoning this kid.
INTERLUDE
...Well, Good Morning London! This is Frankie here on the BBC, givin' you the best up-to-date broadcasts in all of Great Britain! The Allied Forces, your brave husbands and sons and brothers, are out there right now fighting the good fight-...
Hermione groaned as the noise hit her.
Hello Frankie. Piss off, Frankie.
Kicking down the sheets, Hermione turned her back to the noisy fan beside her, allowing it cool the sweat that was soaking through her yellow cotton chemise.
It was almost a year now. One whole year. It seemed like just yesterday to Hermione; she could still taste alcohol on her lips, still feel the sand in her hair. Hermione clenched her teeth together tightly before finally opening her eyes with a sigh.
No use trying to sleep now.
Thoughts of home plagued her constantly. It was as though everything that ever happened to her was in doubt. Being so completely disconnected from her world, she sometimes doubted whether it had ever really existed at all. Whether maybe it was just all in her head.
No. No, no, no, no, no.
It was real. It was all real.
Think of Harry's sweet eyes and Ginny's tinkering laugh. Feel Ron's clumsy lips on yours. Smell his smelly, dirty, charming boy scent. Hear his whispering voice hoarse in your ear...
"Hermione! For fuck's sake woman, what does it take to get you out of bed? It's ten in the bloody morning!"
And WHAM. She was grounded; slammed back it reality (this reality anyway) with all of the fury of a pissed off hell god. Just like that.
When she thinks about it, she supposes it's kind of pathetic that Severus Snape is the only thing keeping her sane.
"'Morning." She mumbled tiredly, walking over to the table. He was sitting, his back was turned to her, but from the leaning hunch of his shoulders she knew the paper was spread out before him.
She leaned over him, reaching around him to grab his chipped mug of coffee before plopping gracelessly on the chair beside him and taking a sip.
"Anything significant?" She inquired even though she knew the answer. No, of course not.
There never was.
The look Severus threw her said as much. "Shouldn't you be at school? You know, working. Paying the bills and all that?"
"Well, technically, I have the day off. But I'm going up to the campus anyway; there's something I wanted to look up in the library. Care to join? Or does the illustrious Severus Snape have something better to do? Some fantastic ball to attend? Or, oh! Perhaps a fleet of damsels to rescue from certain death?"
He could he hear the laughter in her teasing voice and was not surprised to find his own lips twitching. Years ago he would have verbally thrown the girl down, belittled her, sneered at her as she cried for that remark. But somehow, he now found himself in friendly comradery with the previously insufferable woman.
Though he was damned if he knew how.
"I will accompany you. I was intending to speak with Dr. Gregory today either way."
"Oh? What about?" Her mouth was half full with toast as she spoke, lifting his mug to her lips.
He should be angry. So why did he find that so endearing?
"He asked that I come by to speak with him sometime this week. He's leaving on Saturday for the States, I believe he wishes for me to take over a few of his classes while he is gone."
"His poor students."
"And whatever has gotten you in such a chipper mood this morning? That's two insults in one morning. Dare I ask?"
Hermione gazed down in to the black depths of her mug, inhaling the rich scent and allowing it to flow through her, warming her body and her soul until her toes curled with pleasure. She bit her lower lip as she felt a smile growing and shrugged.
"Oh, I don't know. Just feels like a good day, is all."
"Oh, Severus! You came! Good, good. Please, take a seat!"
Hermione trailed behind Severus, taking in the room before her with a critical eye. It was terribly unimpressive. Messy, and more than a bit rank. The place gave her a strange sense of déjà vu though, like she'd been here once before. Wrinkling her brow in thought, she turned her attention back to her surly companion and his department head.
"Ah, I see you brought along a friend then?" Dr. Gregory peered at her behind thick, horn-rimmed glasses. He was a tall, incredibly thin fellow whose rumpled clothing and scraggly beard only strengthened her belief that he lived out of his office.
Hermione raised an eyebrow at Severus, hinting for an introduction.
"Oh. Yes. She wanted to go to the library." Snape's voice was gruff and annoyed, as per usual.
Hermione huffed in exasperation before sticking out her hand in greeting. "Seeing as how dear Severus here lacks any and all social graces, I'll introduce myself. Hermione Granger, sir. I work under Professor Felsher in the Department of Politics."
"Oh. Well. That's good. Exactly what this world needs: more politicians." His sarcastic tone and overall grouchy demeanor made Hermione's eyes widen and her breath catch.
Oh, god.
That's why this place is so damned familiar! It was exactly like Severus's old flat, right down to the suspicious odor and the shady pile of clothing in the corner.
Her gaze flicked from Gregory's condescending sneer to Severus's what-the-hell-did-you-do-to-piss-him-off glare and back again. She took a sudden step backwards, wilting under the combined heat of their dark glowers.
Sweet merciful Merlin, they were practically the same person!
"Right then. I suppose...um...I- I'll just go check out that library then." Hermione shuffled backwards towards the door with as much dignity as she could muster while making a complete fool of herself.
Once reaching the threshold, Hermione all but turned tail and ran while calling out her farewell.
"You boys have fun!"
He found her, not in the library where she said she would be, but rather laying on a stone bench in the courtyard, basking in the sun like a cat.
Normally, this would have irritated the hell out of him, but he couldn't be angry right now. He was too damned giddy.
He was about to make his way towards her, his mind already listing the many and various ways he could sneak up and frighten her, when he noticed a boy. A staring boy. A boy staring not at him, but at her.
So it was here that Severus paused, lips slightly parted and his head tilted to the side in curiosity.
His eyes moved back and forth between Hermione's sunlit body and the boy's steady gaze.
Dear Salazar, was this boy checking Hermione out?
He fixed his attention again on the boy, watching as his eyes slid down Hermione's form languorously, lingering indulgently on her visibly rising breasts and the tan sliver of skin between her skirt and her blouse.
He was doing more than simply checking her out, he was practically undressing her with his eyes!
Severus felt a fury growing within him, a desperate need to protect his former student from this impudent child coupled with a primitive desire to bash the boy's skull in.
He settled for briskly walking up to Hermione, yanking her up by the shoulder and dragging her back into the building, despite all of her yelling protests.
"I can't believe you did that." She stated for probably the fifth time since 'the Incident', as she referred to it.
"I'm sorry." He sounded terribly insincere and he knew it.
"Sorry my arse! You're like the embarrassing father I never had! And, mind you, never wanted!" Hermione let out another fed up noise of frustration. "I still can't believe you actually did that. He was just a boy, Severus! Boys do things like that. So do girls for that matter."
"Yes, well...you didn't see him! He was– He– Oh, damn it, you're right. Look, I don't know what came over me. He just– He reminded me of the way Lucius used to look at the women he was about to rape repeatedly."
"Well gee, thanks awfully for the sentiments, Uncle Sev, but what exactly could he have done to me in broad daylight in the middle of the courtyard?" That was harsh, and she knew it, but he just irritated her so much sometimes that she couldn't take it and the words just lashed out through the haze of red in her mind.
"Are you forgetting what time we're in again? It's 1943, Hermione! Many, if not most, still view women to be inferior and weak. Had I not done what I did, he may have pursued you, stalked you, done all sorts of unspeakable things to you and I would not have been there to save you!"
"Good Godric! You sound like Harry!"
Severus spluttered indignantly, splotchy red spots growing on his cheeks and up his neck, his nostrils flaring– it was all very unattractive, really.
"Oh relax, most people would be immensely flattered to be compared with the Boy-Who-Lived, you know."
"Most of those people don't exist yet, so it's all rather null and void now, isn't it?"
Hermione just rolled her eyes and began looking for their waiter in this pub that Severus had literally dragged her into.
"I really am sorry, you know." He almost sounded like he meant it that time.
"It's fine. I'm over it." She really wasn't, not at all, but she didn't feel like arguing anymore.
An awkward silence filled the air between them and Hermione began drawing stick figures with the condensation on her glass of water, if only for the lack of anything else to do.
"So..." She tried to grasp at something to breach the silence. "What did the terrible Dr. Gregory have to say?"
Severus looked startled for a split second, his eyes bugging out of his head. "God, I completely forgot! That damned boy distracted me! Blast!"
He looked like he was about to pull a Dobby and start abusing himself soon, and, as amusing as that would be, they were in a public setting and Hermione had had her fair dosage of embarrassment for the day, thanks. She kicked him in the shin and felt a small amount of satisfaction when he grunted.
"Get on with it, then."
"Wizard, Hermione." His eyes took on that wild look they only got when he was really, truly and genuinely ecstatic. "Dr. Gregory. He's a Wizard. More than that, he's a Potions Master. The Potions Master. At Hogwarts. He wants me to take over his position while he takes care of business in America. Me. You and me. At Hogwarts. With Magic. Real Magic. Magic, Hermione!"
Oh– Oh, God.
A/N: Okay, so not my best writing. But, hey! Points for trying, right?
Anyway, Clarification Time if you got lost: Hermione and Severus landed in a dimension where they thought magic did not exist. They couldn't perform it and they couldn't find any hints of a wizarding culture. So after losing most of their hope, they gave up and rose quickly through muggle academia, making a comfortable enough life for themselves. And Severus may or may not have a thing for Hermione.
That's the basic gist of it. Hope you enjoyed!