Title: A New Severus Snape

Rating: T (for now)

Pairing(s): Severus/Hermione (hopefully)

Warnings: Canon Divergence, Ron-bashing (but he totally deserves it)

Summary: During the Battle of Hogwarts, Voldemort casts a de-aging curse at Harry. His intention is to return Harry to his infancy, to the age when he survived the killing curse, and make that Avada Kedavra stick this time around. Snape gets in the way of the curse, though, which de-ages him seventeen years. Voldemort is eventually defeated, but Snape is stuck at age twenty. When Hermione and her friends come back to school in the fall to start their seventh year, they're surprised to find that Snape is still de-aged and still stuck at Hogwarts trying to find a cure.

Notes: For the "Too Many Cooks" challenge. HP Slash Luv and I are sharing a universe, alternating 100-800-word drabbles based on one-word prompts and each other's previous work. We aren't allowed to write anything that doesn't agree with the canon we've already established. We'll try to keep it up until we write ourselves into a corner.


To see HP Slash Luv's side of the story, start with her version of "A New Severus Snape" - www dot fanfiction dot net/s/9917683/1/


She was there, waiting outside the transfiguration classroom, when he rounded the corner at precisely ten o'clock. Severus raised an eyebrow, letting his not-entirely-feigned surprise show. "You would voluntarily accept detention to spend time in my company?"

Hermione smirked, but her eyes sparkled. "Detention with Filch? No. Sort-of detention with you? Obviously. Which direction are we headed?"

He inclined his head toward the stairs, and she fell into step next to him.

"Speaking of which, I hope Mr. Filch didn't have any particularly onerous tasks for Harry and Daphne tonight," she said. "Harry was nervous enough as it is."

"Perhaps you could suggest to Mr. Potter that acquiring detention might not be the best way to woo a partner."

"I don't know - I'm enjoying it so far." She glanced up at him, a half-smile on her face. "Although I'm not entirely sure what to expect."

"Miss Granger, are you asking as to my intentions?"

"Not worried about if you'll be proper," she answered, nudging his arm playfully with her shoulder. "Was kind of hoping you wouldn't be, actually. At least not entirely."

Severus stopped and ducked into an empty classroom, motioning for Hermione to follow. He closed the door with a flick of his wand and turned, the teasing air between them suddenly gone.

Damn it, I hate this. Emotions - sentiment - were never really his strength to start with, but he owed her the truth. "I don't think I can give you what you want," he forced himself to admit. "If you're looking for a . . . physical . . . relationship, you'd be better served seeking out someone who is legitimately your age."

"If I haven't really dated any of my classmates by now, don't you think that might be a clue?" Hermione folded her arms and met his gaze unflinchingly. "A physical relationship would be lovely, but that plus an intellectual relationship would be even better. And I'm not going to get that from Ron, or Harry, or anyone else 'legitimately my age.'"

Severus frowned. "'Intellectual relationship?'"

"Talking. About magic, and theory, and - well, anything other than Quidditch, really." She dropped her arms and took a step closer to him, then another, her eyes locked on his face. "I get it - you don't feel like you can make the first move. Whether it's the curse or because you're a teacher or whatever - it really doesn't matter." When she stopped, her lips were mere inches from his. Severus should have backed up, should have turned away, but his feet felt stuck to the floor. Bloody - she's going to kiss me, going to-

"Your turn," she whispered, her breath ghosting across his skin. "Pretty sure this is as far as my Gryffindor courage takes me."

It was a blatant move, an appeal to his Slytherin pride, but that didn't negate its effectiveness. Severus found himself closing the gap before he could think better of it. And then he could think better of it, but didn't, because her lips were soft and warm and her hand was already fluttering around in the general vicinity of his right collarbone and she was making a quiet moaning sound and Severus's fingers seemed to have found the nape of her neck of their own volition. Her thick hair spilled down over the back of his hand, shifting slightly as she leaned into the kiss, and suddenly there was much too much space between them and Severus had to rectify that immediately.

He anchored his other arm around her waist and hauled her body against his. The sudden move pulled her off-balance, pressing her breasts into his chest and causing her lips to part in surprise. Severus immediately deepened the kiss, drinking in the startled gasp and very deliberately caressing her lower lip with the flat of his tongue. He was dreadfully out of practice - if occasional stolen snogs in the astronomy tower when he was a student counted as "practice" - but Severus found himself eager to refresh his skills. More than eager. Still conflicted - the I shouldn't be doing this warning was clanging away loudly somewhere in his brain - but Hermione didn't seem the least bit concerned and right now, with her hands on him and her mouth pressed against his, he really couldn't be arsed to care.

Sometime during the next several seconds, as she tugged his head down a bit lower and insinuated her tongue into his mouth, Severus realized it was entirely possible Hermione Granger was more experienced at this than he was. She was certainly good at it - his thoughts had largely been reduced to sentence fragments the moment she started stalking toward him - but it felt like she had just been waiting for that last little bit of permission before really cutting loose. And that, paradoxically, was what helped him pull back.

"I - we can't -"

Hermione sighed and let her forehead drop against his chest. "We can. But I understand why you won't." Her lips twisted into a wistful smile. "Should I go?"

He was still trying to formulate an answer long after the door had closed behind her.


(Cheated a bit on this one again - I'm about fifty words over. I didn't want to cut out any of the fun stuff, though!)