Severus Snape bursts into his office, a permanent scowl etched in his features. For the second time in two days, he was being bombarded with calls from former Gryffindor students. He had assumed that after they had graduated, he would no longer be bothered by them.
"What do you want?" He barked, glaring at the red-haired Ginny Weasley, who was currently hanging out of the green flames in his fireplace.
"It is apparent that my judgment was rather hasty when I assumed that after you lot had completed your studies, I would no longer be bothered by you!" Snape spat.
"Hey, don't shoot the messenger, I don't want to be here anymore than you want me here." Ginny replied, crossing her arms over her chest, "But I just heard from Hermione. Minerva needs you, she went to see her today. And apparently things didn't go as planned." Ginny finished.
Severus had to suppress a groan, if Hermione was with Minerva, than Hermione had to have told Minerva that he had brought her to the motel. A chill shot down Severus's spine when he thought of the tongue lashing he was sure to endure at the hands of Minerva.
"Alright fine, I'm coming through." He replied. And within seconds, he was standing in the Mcclaussen's living room, he completely ignored the look of outrage written on Quinn's face. "What the hell!" Quinn exclaimed.
"Silence muggle!" Severus hissed, as he marching through the living room and stormed out the back door. Then in a flash, he was standing in the parking lot of The Golden Arches motel, right in front of room number thirteen.
He cast a silent unlocking charm on the doorknob, he knew that all muggle motel rooms locked themselves automatically upon closing. Severus had to take a moment to prepare himself to face the wrath of Minerva. So he pulled the door slightly ajar and peered inside, he needed to know what he was dealing with. What he saw, shocked him to his very core and it wasn't easy to unsettle Severus Snape.
Minerva was seated at the foot of the bed, her hair looked slightly damp, like she had recently showered. Tears were streaming down her face and she was rocking back and forth with a bottle clenched tightly between shaking hands. Hermione was seated next to her trying to force a brush through the thick inky tresses.
Hermione sat on the floor next to Minerva, trying to comfort her as she sobbed uncontrollably. She didn't know what else to do apart from waiting for Minerva to calm down enough to speak coherently she knew that it wouldn't do anybody any good to try and take the half full bottle of Firewhisky away from Minerva, as long as she didn't drink it there was no harm in letting Minerva hold it. "I've failed." Minerva said, her voice thick with tears.
"No-" Hermione started, before she was interrupted, Severus Snape had just walked through the door.
"What happened!" He barked at Hermione. Although his face was the cold hard mask, beneath it was a deep hot pool of guilt.
"Nothing, everything was fine, then she took a shower and we were talking and she started saying how she failed everyone." Hermione replied hoping desperately that Severus would believe her.
"How was she when you got here?" Severus asked, his concern growing.
"Passed out, when we found her she had somehow cut her arm, Quinn stitched her up. Then she woke up not long after and we talked, she took a shower and then she just snapped." Hermione explained.
"Do you think that whatever happened before you arrived, could have been an attempt at suicide?"
Before Hermione had a chance to reply, another, more broken voice interrupted, "No. It wasn't but it should have been." Minerva sobbed, covering her face with her hands.
Severus was still in a state of shock, as he knelt down to face her. Gone was the strong dowager-esque Minerva McGonagall to be replaced with a weepy, broken and probably drunken woman that he knew not of.
"Minerva, look at me." Severus demanded, forcing a hand under her chin and roughly prying her hands away from her face so she had no choice but to look him in the eye.
"Oh Severus." Minerva whispered. Looking at him like she had never seen him before.
"No. Don't you 'oh Severus' me Minerva McGonagall. You've depended on me for far to long, Minerva and it's high time you grew up." Severus spat, his temper ruling out over anything else he may of may not have felt at that moment.
What a way to handle things Severus. He scolded himself, he couldn't believe that he had just told Minerva McGonagall to 'grow up' And if he was being honest with himself he would know that he didn't even know what he meant when he'd said it. But the words had crossed his lips and that was all that mattered.
Suddenly Minerva was on her feet, the bottle of Firewhisky lay abandoned on the floor.
Minerva was standing directly in front of Severus, he was taller than her but not by more than a few inches.
"How dare you hold your own self righteous good deeds over my head, Severus Snape! As far as I'm concerned you're the soul reason I'm here in the first place!" Minerva shrieked, tears streaming down her cheeks unhindered.
"Yes Minerva, I am the reason your here, I paid for the room." Severus replied dryly.
It took Minerva a moment for Severus's words to fully sink in, her mind felt slow and sluggish but oddly clear at the same time. It was a very strange sensation. But when his hurtful words finally sank in, Minerva just got mad her entire body was shaking as she drew herself up to her full height and slapped Severus right across his face Her wedding band left a near permanent indention in his right cheek.
"I suppose I did deserve that." Severus replied wryly, Rubbing his face in annoyance.
Minerva was beside herself, Severus had just told her to 'grow up' and then she had slapped him, she had resorted to physical violence yet again. And yet, she couldn't understand what had made her do it. She had to turn away from him, she couldn't bear to see the scarlet hand print she had made.
"Wasn't that the reason you lost your place at Hogwarts in the first place?" said the sly voice in her head.
She tried to push that thought down, she knew that she didn't really blame Severus for her actions it wasn't really Severus's fault that she had flipped out and hit Sybil Trelawney, it wasn't like Severus bought her the innumerable bottles of alcohol and forced her to drink it. But blaming him gave her an answer to the unanswerable, "Why."
"Why what, Minerva?" Came Hermione's gentle voice, effectively jarring Minerva from her thoughts, she hadn't realized she had spoken aloud until she noticed that Hermione was standing at her side.
"Why what?" Hermione asked again, her voice was louder but her tone remained gentle.
"Nothing is right anymore. I'm not right anymore." Minerva whispered, more to herself than to Hermione.
"Minerva, what are you talking about, of course your-" Hermione replied, before she was cut off by Minerva.
"I'm not! I'm not me, this isn't me! I don't know who I am anymore! " she cried, more tears rolling down her cheeks.
Suddenly Minerva's tirade of emotions was cut short by a sudden wave of dizziness that caused her to lose her footing and nearly fall to the floor. Hermione instinctively reached out to steady her older friend. Severus saw this a look of slight panic in his eye as he took hold of Minerva's upper arm and helped Hermione lead her to the bed.
Once Minerva was safely seated on the bed, Severus knelt down and plucked her hand from her lap and placed his fingers of his left hand to the inside of her wrist. While intently studying his wrist watch.
"Minerva, you need to eat." Severus said, waving his hand, the plate of grilled cheese sandwiches that Hermione had charmed earlier hovered by his side for a moment. He took one from the plate before sending is back to it's place on the ironing board.
"Minerva, you need to eat this, now before your heart explodes out of your chest." Severus ordered holding the sandwich out to Minerva.
"I'm not eating anything you've touched, Severus Snape." Minerva spat.
She was very confused. It was very unlike Severus to care about anyone, he didn't even look after himself properly. So why would he start caring now? And for her of all people, especially after the way she had treated him mere minutes ago? She had slapped him after all.
"Very well Minerva, if you think you can manage walking over there and getting one yourself, then you go ahead. I won't try and stop you." Severus replied. Waving his hand in a dismissive manner.
"Very well, though I don't see why you didn't just leave the plate. Like I'm incapable of walking ten feet across the room." Minerva grumbled, standing up a bit to quickly,
As a less intense wave of dizziness came over her.
She made it about half way across the room before another wave crashed over her. She had to grab hold of the circular table her knuckles shone white against the table in her effort to stay upright.
Hermione saw her friend stumble and grab the table she took notice of the way Minerva's face had taken on a grayish color. And moved to help her when Severus took hold of her wrist and said, in a hushed voice "You really are way to overprotective of her."
"What are you talking about, would you look at her! I'm not about to let her keel over!" Hermione spat.
"You can't just go running to her aide every time! If you do you'll hurt her pride further, can't you see that she doesn't want our help!" Severus replied.
"Your serious about this." Hermione replied, it was more of a statement than a question.
Severus ignored Hermione and returned his attention to Minerva, who was still gripping the table.
"It seems somebody's been hitting the catnip again." Severus taunted, returning to his usual slimy self. Severus didn't know if catnip had any effect on Minerva, but it sounded good and the line was guaranteed to merit some kind of response from Minerva.
Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing! After everything Minerva had been through, Severus had the audacity to ruthlessly taunt her. The whole scene was disgusting!
"Shut up Severus." Came Minerva's tired reply.
Severus knew something was amiss as soon as he heard Minerva's so called comeback. Under normal circumstances her responses were guaranteed to bring him down a few pegs, usually.
"Oh come on Minerva, surely you can do better than that." Severus taunted.
"I said shut up! Severus!" Minerva said, through clenched teeth and in her sudden ire Minerva lost her grip on the table and her whole world was plunged into sudden darkness.
Severus and Hermione watched Minerva fall to the floor, Severus and Hermione were at her side instantaneously. Severus began checking her pulse and breathing.
"See, I told you something was wrong, but no you wouldn't let me help her! You just let her pass out!" Hermione hissed, before Severus put his hand up, effectively stemming Hermione's tirade. "Hermione, calm down." Severus instructed as he effortlessly lifted Minerva into his arms and laid her on the bed, propping her legs up on numerous pillows.
"You act like this isn't a big deal." Hermione mused.
"That's because it isn't. Minerva passed out all the time back when she was teaching. She would forget to eat, then keel over in the staff room. It's pretty much the same now, she still forgets to eat." Severus replied.
~0~0~0~
Severus and Hermione were seated at the round table, waiting for Minerva to regain consciousness, when Hermione broke the silence. She had an idea of what she wanted to do for Minerva but she wanted to run it by Severus first.
"Minerva doesn't seem happy here does she?"
"Honestly, no I don't think she is." Severus answered.
"Okay, well. I think Minerva could use some help getting back on her feet. I don't think she would have slipped this far if someone would have noticed." Hermione said.
"Go on." Severus coaxed.
"Well if I could just get Minerva to come and stay with me, then maybe I could help her. Maybe if I told her that I wanted the boys to get a head start on their magical education, maybe she could tutor them..." Hermione broke off, waiting for Severus to reply.
There was a short pause before Severus spoke. "So. You want Minerva to come and stay with you, under the pretext of teaching, when in reality your going to help her. Instead of her helping you." Severus replied.
"Well when you put it like that..." Hermione replied, when Severus broke it down like that her idea sounded fairly unlikely.
"No, honestly it isn't a bad idea, the only problem is, Minerva would never accept the help. So here's what we're going to do." Severus replied, wondering why Hermione hadn't been sorted into Slytherin.