A.N. - This is a longer chapter than I was expecting it to be and I kept on think I would break it into two parts, but there wasn't really any place that I could do that, so you get a longer chapter than usual! By the way, for artwork for this chapter, look to my DeviantArt page. There's a link to it in my profile. Hope you enjoy it! I sure loved writing it!
Chapter 7 - Old Friends
It was eleven o'clock at night, and Sarah had just made it back to her room when it happened. Tiberius, Hermione's owl, suddenly swooped in through her open window and landed on her desk, looking at her expectantly.
At first she was confused, but then she remembered the letter that she had been composing, and she realized that Hermione was probably starting to worry as she hadn't heard from her in a long time, so she quickly grabbed the letter and hastily scrawled as a postscript, P.S. Your bird bit me. Please tell him that I am not a fast letter writer and to be patient.
Sarah then slipped it into a small envelope, and then handed it over to the gray owl after hastily scrawling Hermione's name on the front of it, a wary look in her eye as she gave it to him.
It gave a soft hoot before it took it in its beak, as though saying thank you, and then took off, the air from its wings rustling the papers that were on her desk.
Sarah watched him for as long as she could and then let out a small sigh and settled herself into her chair, tossing her bag on the floor.
Hopefully Hermione got that in time to keep her from worrying too much.
It had been two days and Hermione had not heard from Sarah, so she quickly took it upon herself to find out what had happened. She rushed through her morning meal so quickly, not only did she garner stares from the staff, but also from many of the students as she rushed off the dais and down towards the dungeons.
There were only a few things that she could do, but she would try anything to make sure that Sarah was alright.
Though she was reluctant to use it in any way, she could use one of Sarah's last letters to track down where she actually lived.
As soon as she stepped into the lab, she went over to her bag and pulled out the letter from one of the folders.
Carefully, she cut off a piece of the page and took it over to a cauldron that she had left simmering overnight. She had started the scrying potion the night before, just in case Sarah had not sent her an answer by that morning. Reluctantly, she dropped it into the cauldron and it started to shimmer.
Good. It was working.
But then, just as she was about to add the final ingredient, Tiberius came barreling through the window, (yes, barreling) and nearly landed in the cauldron itself, but he managed to angle a wing just so, so that he barely missed it and instead landed gracefully on the end of the table, a letter in his beak.
Hermione immediately recognized the handwriting on the front of the envelope and quickly opened the letter and let out a sigh of relief at the words that she read.
But the postscript made her look over at Tiberius and give him a chastening look, as she could also see the small bloodstain on the paper that had obviously come from the injury he'd given her.
"Tiberius, you know better," she said reprovingly.
He simply gave a soft hoot and went back to preening his feathers, essentially snubbing her.
However, she was still relieved because now she knew that Sarah was simply busy. Good. That was much better than the horrible scenarios that she had conjured up in her mind.
Feeling as though a great burden had been lifted from her, she dropped herself onto a stool and quickly used an Evanesco to vanish the potion from the cauldron. Oh, well…so much for scrying. It seemed that everything was okay and that she had worried herself almost sick over nothing.
Suddenly, she started to giggle and couldn't seem to stop.
She continued to do so for quite a while until she realized that she was simply having a reaction that any friend would have for another…and it felt strange.
She hadn't had a friend, really, besides Harry and Ron…and, hopefully, with Severus, and it felt…different. Not bad different, just…good different. She had someone that she worried about, someone not in the magical world that she could really talk to, and it felt nice.
With that in mind, she decided to get started on the pain relieving potion that Severus had been having her brew over the last couple of days. After his incident the other night, he had been taking extra precautionary measures to make sure that there was plenty of it on hand. And not just for himself. When he'd mentioned it to her, he'd given her an almost sympathetic look, and she realized in that moment that he was aware of the fact that she suffered as well as he.
Ever since she had been tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange, she sometimes had debilitating back pain and arm pain that kept her from doing her normal routine.
It was nice to know that he'd been thinking of her, and she let the warm feeling settle in her as she went through her routine of gathering the ingredients.
Only a few minutes later, Severus showed, his eyes darker than usual and his brow furrowed. He stepped towards her, trying to piece together her actions from breakfast. Something was on her mind, and he wanted to know what it was. Finally, he said…
"Hermione…"
"Hmmm…?" she said absently, not quite paying full attention to him, still focused on getting everything together.
He noticed her attention was not on him, so he gently put a hand to her wrist and stopped her movements. She looked up at him, confused.
"Severus, what's wrong?"
He chuckled.
"I believe that question should be reversed. Wasn't it you who ate down your breakfast with little to no decorum and then rushed down here as though a hellhound was on her tail?"
At his words she let out a low chuckle and replied with, "Well, despite your descriptive turn of phrase, it turns out that I was worried over nothing. I hadn't heard from Sarah in a long time, and I was getting more and more worried and thought that something might have happened to her, however…"
She motioned towards Tiberius, who was still settled on the edge of the table, still preening, running his beak through his feathers.
"…Tiberius delivered a letter from her this morning. So, no emergency, after all. Although," she added, glaring once more at her owl, "It seems Tiberius needs to be reminded of his manners…"
At hearing this, he felt his heart lightened. Why it was, however, he didn't know, but he stepped forward and gently ran his fingers over Tiberius' back, giving him a look of his own. He had helped Hermione name the bird in the first place and expected good manners from him.
And then he turned his eyes back to Hermione and said, "I'm glad all is well."
She was slightly surprised to hear him say those words so easily, but said nothing.
She went back to preparing the potion, but watched from the corner of her eye as Severus gave the bird a piece of bacon from his pocket, and then walked over to his desk, his quill out.
This was when he usually graded papers. On Tuesday mornings. He had no classes to teach, so he took advantage of the extra time, while she usually brewed. Normally she would be working on some more basic potions, ones for headaches and cramps that Madam Pomfrey could give the students, but this morning she was having to be extra careful on the pain potion that she was brewing.
It helped to ease the aftereffects of the Cruciatus and it had some delicate ingredients.
Quickly realizing that her mind wasn't entirely focused on what she was doing, she turned her gaze back to the table in front of her.
Goodness, she was easily distracted these days.
She then threw herself into the work and was pleased when she got the first stage of the potion finished. It would have to sit for a day before she did anything else, so she turned her thoughts back to the possible potion that she had been working on for Sarah to keep the goblins at bay.
But as she went through her notes, she found her eyes drifting and Severus soon noticed it as well.
"Hermione, did you sleep last night?"
She looked up, surprised that he'd noticed, and then nodded, though not very convincingly.
"Yes, I slept fine…" He raised an eyebrow, obviously not persuaded, and she capitulated. "…Alright, maybe not so fine, but it was just because I was worried about Sarah. I got a couple of hours, though, and that's more than enough…"
Her voice drifted as she saw the glare forming on Severus' face and her eyes dropped.
"Fine. I'll promise to get enough sleep tonight, alright?"
She could feel his approving gaze and looked up just in time to see a flicker of a smile across the corner of his lips, and a hint of humor in his eyes. He then nodded and pointed with his hand in her direction and said, "I'll brew some Dreamless Sleep, and that should help you tonight."
Hermione quickly shook her head.
"No, no I don't need that. Really, I don't."
Severus detected a faint note of panic in her voice, and was suddenly curious as to why she sounded that way, and he raised an eyebrow at her; ineffectively, it seemed, as she had glanced away and was not looking at him, her eyes cast down at her cauldron.
There was no way that she was going to tell him that she didn't want Dreamless Sleep because it would stop her dreaming about him…that would be horribly embarrassing. But she honestly couldn't let go of the dreams that she was having. The only reason why she'd even been able to drag herself to her bed over the past two nights was because of the wonderfully pleasant dreams that she had been having about him.
Severus simply brushed it off as her being moody, and left it at that. No point in doing any more work than was absolutely necessary.
After sliding the students' papers into a locked drawer in his desk, he then proceeded to brew some basic draughts for Madam Pomfrey, and kept an eye on Hermione as he did so. She seemed to be more absent minded than usual, which was not good when one was working with volatile ingredients, or potion ingredients of any kind, for that matter, but she seemed to be doing fine on what she was working on so he let it go.
Besides, he had other things to worry about.
One of which was a missive that he had received that morning from an old friend.
It seemed that Remus Lupin had discovered, in his work for the Ministry, that an old acquaintance of Snape's was currently in the Wizarding world. Someone who was not supposed to be there, and, considering the fact that Hermione was looking into the Underground and into the Fae culture, it rose more than a few flags in his mind. As soon as he'd entered the lab that morning, he had carefully augmented all of his wards, but in such a subtle way that not even his resident genius witch would notice.
As he sliced up a shrivelfig, he glanced over at the letter that sat on his desk, tucked away in its original envelope, and he wondered how his old friend would try and contact him. If he did it in his usual way, then it would be more than a bit interesting to watch him arrive, that was for sure.
He looked back to what he was doing and realized that he was so distracted by his thoughts that he'd nearly put in the shrivelfigs too soon, and he shook his head and focused once more on his brewing, deciding to not think of what might or might not happen. The potions were more important for the time being.
An hour and a half later, both he and Hermione were finished, and he gave her a smile as he said, "Would you care to join me for a walk? It's not quite time for lunch, and even I will admit that it's been a while since I've had some fresh air."
She flashed him a wide smile in return and replied, "I'd love to," and the two of them headed out of the castle, both of their strides lengthening as they walked into the sunlight.
It was a surprisingly pleasant day for being fall in the Scottish highlands.
The sun was bright, burning down pleasantly on both of their shoulders, and there was hardly a cloud to be seen in the sky.
He stared at her for a moment as he slowed down and watched as she ran ahead of him to a bench under one of the blackthorn trees, only to throw off her outer robe onto the bench and then come running back towards him, firmly grabbing his wrist in her hand, obviously trying to get him to join her, but at that, he stopped moving, and she glared at him in consternation as she realized what he had done.
"Please, Severus…it's a gorgeous day!"
He simply maintained his glare and said, as he gently pried her fingers from his wrist, "Be that as it may, Hermione, I am not going to run around the grounds like an adolescent school boy. Now, please," he added, gesturing with his now freed hand, "Feel free to continue, and I will gladly observe from a distance."
Knowing that she would not be able to change his mind, she rolled her eyes and went back over to the bench to take off her shoes and socks, and then, after stuffing her socks into her shoes, to keep them safe, she turned her head back towards Severus and said, "Severus Snape, I will change you yet!", and then took off running towards the lake, her hair coming out of the bun that was held together only by a single hair tie, which was good enough for keeping it out of her way while doing potions, but not enough for enduring the strain she put it under at that moment.
At seeing her hair coming loose, her bushy brown curls now nearly billowing behind her, a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, although he would adamantly argue that it was smirk to anyone who might have noticed it.
He watched for a moment as she dipped her toes into the water, and when she turned her head to him and waved, he waved back, and then he saw her point to his robes and roll her eyes, and he knew that what she was silently saying was, You look ridiculous wearing your black robes outside in the sunlight. She then fanned a hand against her face and gave him a questioning look, and he knew that translated to, Aren't you hot?
He wouldn't say it out loud, but he was a bit warm…and so he walked over to where she had put her shoes and cloak, and placed his own robes alongside hers, and then looked back at her and gave her a look that said, There? Happy?, and her warm smile in return he knew meant, Yes. Thank you.
He smirked again and sat down on the bench, leaning back against the tree and crossing his arms over his chest as he stretched his legs out in front of him and crossed his ankles.
It was a nice day. He might as well relax and enjoy it.
He watched Hermione for several long minutes while under the guise of closing his eyes, but he could still see her well enough as she continued to wade at the water's edge, occasionally reaching down to grab a stone and attempt to skip it across the water. At one point, one of the giant squid's tentacles slid up onto the rocky shore and she played with it briefly before going back to skipping stones; or, rather, attempting to, as she had been before.
Severus was about to actually close his eyes, when he saw a large flock of black crows coming from the Forbidden Forest. Hi gut tightened and he felt a chill run down his spine.
He knew that formation.
In an instant, he was on his feet, wand in his hand, and looking over to where his intern was still wading carelessly in the water, he yelled, "Hermione!"
Her head turned and she locked eyes with him. Immediately, at hearing his tone and seeing the look in his eyes, she was running over to him, her wand already at the ready, and by the time she had gotten to him, the birds had suddenly swarmed on the grounds only a few scant feet from where Snape was standing.
Suddenly, they seemed to merge into a mass of black color…and then a man appeared, a few black feathers drifting to the ground from the cloak draped over his shoulders.
"Hello, Severus," he said, his voice lightly accented with a Highland lilt.
Hermione looked on in shock, her eyes wide, but Severus simply nodded at him and said, "Brynnach…Lupin told me you were here."
Hermione, after remaining silent for a while afterwards, her wand out in a defensive posture, finally said, "Wait a moment…Brynnach, as in Brynnach of the Fae? As in, the brother of Jareth? But…but…but you're not supposed to be here! You're limited to your kingdom, to your realm, to-to-to your…!"
The man smirked.
"I've always been able to find the…loopholes…in the rules. Besides, I'm only visiting, so don't you worry your bushy head about it," he said, and, self-consciously, her hand went to her hair, smoothing it down as best she could, her wand hand still outstretched in his direction.
He then ignored her and looked back at Severus, an eyebrow raising in a similar fashion as the professor's as he asked, "Girlfriend?"
"Intern."
"Ah."
He then walked over to them, gliding over the ground almost effortlessly, and then said, "We need to talk, you and I. Seems my brother's been causing a few problems, eh?"
The three of them began to walk back to the castle, Hermione trailing behind as she had to hastily cast a drying spell on her feet and ankles before pulling her socks back on, shoving her feet back into her shoes, and then had to grab both her and Severus' cloaks.
By the time they were back in his office, she felt awkward and like a third wheel, as the two of them seemed to be speaking in some sort of shorthand, and she had the faint suspicion that Severus was doing it on purpose, not letting her know what they were talking about because he did not want her to know. She managed to bite her lip and withhold the sarcastic remarks that wanted to surface, knowing that she could ask him later.
She then checked on the time, and saw that it was time for lunch. If Severus didn't show, she knew it would upset Minerva, so she approached the two of them and lightly tapped Severus on the shoulder, grabbing his attention.
"Uh, Severus…it's time for lunch."
He looked at her nodded.
"Very well then. Brynnach," he said, turning his attention back on him, "I hope you don't mind, but the Headmistress does require to see both of us at all three meals, so I must go for the time being, but we can pick this up after…?"
The dark haired man smiled, making her uncomfortable, and simply said, "Of course."
Pleased to finally have him back to herself, she handed Severus his robe and slid hers back on, and then slipped her arm through his as they walked to the Great Hall. Just as they walked up on the dais and took their seats, a loud cacophony of crows swept through the doors that the students were coming through and then amassed, once more, into the form of Brynnach in the chair on the other side of Hermione.
Severus smirked and muttered, "You couldn't resist, could you?"
Brynnach smirked back.
"I never have a captive audience, and your students seem to be more than happy to be one," he said, tilting his head to the students who were frozen in the doorway, their mouths gaping, eyes wide, and Hermione looked across the hall and saw nearly all of the other students with the same reaction.
McGonagall, who was just to the left of Severus, looked over at the three of them and almost seemed to holding back an amused smirk herself as she said, "Well, Severus. I think you've met your match in dramatic entrances. And this would be…?"
The fae nodded respectfully in her direction and said, "Brynnach, ma'am. I am here at your service…"
She gave a small sniff and replied, "I doubt that," and Hermione could see a faint twinkle in her eye and she had the faint impression that Minerva knew exactly what he was, and therefore knew that the Fae served no one but themselves. The woman didn't miss a trick.
Brynnach then leaned back and said, completely ignoring the fact that she was seated between him and Severus, "We can talk now, if you'd like," and Severus nodded.
And Hermione mentally groaned.
So much for having Severus to herself.
Part 7/?
