Title: A New Severus Snape
Rating: T
Pairing(s): Severus/Hermione
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/
SO sorry to make y'all wait so long for the last chapter!
"Paris? As in France?"
"Madame LeFevrier's laboratory is in Versailles, but its close. She was most enthusiastic about meeting you."
Hermione's eyes locked on the scroll sitting on Severus's desk between them. Her fingers twitched, like she longed to read it herself, but she kept her stiff-backed posture and didn't move. The silence stretch for almost a minute. Severus knew the technique well - he used it often to throw students off-balance - but he was still almost ready to apologize for having upset her when she finally spoke.
"This would be . . . instead of finishing my year. Here at Hogwarts." She extended one finger and ran it over the broken wax seal.
"Yes."
"And you told her what, exactly?"
"Merely that I knew the perfect apprentice for her arithmancy research, if you were both amenable. She's not as mobile as she used to be, but she has yet to find a student up to her exacting standards at Beauxbatons. Tracing ley lines requires an incredible amount of precision and perseverance, both of which are qualities rarely found in younger witches and wizards."
Hermione sucked in a deep breath. "Are you asking me to leave Hogwarts because I kissed you?" Her gaze was focused on his face, eyes wide -
- and all of a sudden Severus was painfully aware that his ambivalent mask, the one he'd always counted on to get him through his time as a Death Eater, was no longer going to help him. The desk between them, the physical space, was too much. If he retreated now . . .
"Hermione."
"I didn't mean to . . . I'm sorry if I-"
"Hermione." Severus stood, coming around to her side of the desk, and pulled her up until she was leaning into him and he could thread his arm between her long hair and her shoulderblades. "I didn't mean it like that," he said quietly.
"But you want me gone." She pressed her cheek against his chest, and it was all Severus could do not to crush her in a protective hug.
"I want you here," he murmured into her hair. "I don't . . . I'm not good at this, Hermione. I've never had the chance to even try. But we can't do this, not here, not at Hogwarts. Even if it's not technically against the rules, it still feels that way. I'm a professor and you're a student whether we like it or not. If you were in France, it would be different."
"If I were in France, I would be gone."
"Two or three apparitions away, nothing more. And Madame LeFevrier is quite open to you coming back to visit as frequently as you wish."
"I wouldn't be able to finish my N.E. ."
"Do you really need the classes?" Severus tucked a knuckle under her chin, drawing her head up so he could see her face. "You could take the N.E. today with no trouble whatsoever, and we both know it."
Hermione closed her eyes, silently acknowledging the touch as a caress. "I don't like leaving," she whispered.
Merlin's balls. "You don't have to if you don't want to," Severus answered as neutrally as possible, given how fast his heart was beating against her cheek. "It's an option, nothing more."
"But it would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study arithmancy with a world-famous witch."
"Yes."
"And we could still . . . correspond, at least?"
Severus smiled against her temple. "I promise I'll be on your doorstep at precisely eight every Saturday night for our study session. If you still want me to."
Hermione drew back and looked up at him, then, although she didn't pull away far enough to make him break his hold on her shoulders. "Would it make you happy?" she asked quietly.
I'd almost forgotten what happy felt like. Severus considered his answer for as long as he dared, then realized to hell with it and ducked his head to steal a quick kiss. "It would," he admitted. "It scares me, sometimes, how much I've allowed my emotions to depend on anything other than my own actions. I think . . . you could be a new start for me. Whether or not we ever reverse this de-aging curse."
Her lips parted slightly, revealing a tiny flash of tongue, and Severus was powerless to resist the urge to kiss her again. Longer, this time, although no less gentle. A promise.
"Yes." Hermione broke the kiss to beam up at him. "My friends aren't going to understand, but . . . yes. It's about time I started doing things just because I want to, and right now I want to snog you senseless for coming up with such a perfect solution."
Severus blinked. It meant he was caught off-guard when her hand snaked around to tug at the back of his neck and tip him forward, into her waiting embrace.
They both very nearly missed Madame LeFevrier's face in the fireplace when she put through her floo call several minutes later.