Chapter Eleven
The thunder had not broke the silence of the air for two days now, and the clouds, instead of pouring rain, had become thick and ever-present, blocking out the sun. Winter was approaching rather quickly, and the snow would begin to fall any day now. Students were already beginning to make their Christmas holiday plans even though the vacation didn't begin for another few weeks. But one student in the castle hadn't been able to wake up, let along think about hat she would do on the holidays.
Hermione had still not come out of her coma, due to her body's need to restore itself, and Poppy Pomfrey suggested that Hermione was simply too afraid of the pain she would feel. Sure – there would be a little pain initially, but that would pass. Harry had been in every break with the annoying Longbottom boy, and he also returned on his own after dinner for half an hour every night that she had been in the coma, which was almost a week ago then.
The Malfoy's had been arrested, but it was only after Lucius had been convicted did they find out that Draco had been under the influence of Imperious, and that as why he had attacked Hermione. Had had been let off but was on probation until the Ministry decided that he had been a good boy. Oddly enough, he accepted his responsibilities for what had happened and apologized to Hermione when he sat by her bed in the morning for a few moments, before a haggard-looking Snape would enter the Hospital Wing and send him off to class.
Severus himself spent a lot of time in the evenings after dinner, simply sitting by Hermione's bedside, willing her to wake up, while reading to her from various academic journals he had. When it started to get late, he would take her hand in his and kiss it, before resting his head on his arms on an edge of her bed, and close his eyes so that he could get a couple of hours sleep before returning t his chambers, getting cleaned up and returning to Hermione with a nutrient potion.
'Severus, you need to stop doing this to yourself,' Poppy said from the doorway of the private room Hermione had been placed in.
He finished giving Hermione her morning dosage and set the vial aside carefully, and turning to the Mediwitch. 'I don't know what you mean by that, Poppy, but I can assure you that there is nothing wrong with me,' he stated coolly.
'You're not sleeping properly, you're barely eating and you spend more time in here than you do teaching,' she said gently, walking over to him and resting a hand on his arm in a motherly way. 'You need to get some decent sleep.'
'I won't leave her alone, Poppy. I need to be here when she wakes up,' Severus insisted through gritted teeth.
'While I'm sure Hermione would appreciate the sentiment, she would not want to see you harming yourself like this. Stop torturing and blaming yourself for what happened,' Poppy reasoned sternly.
'It is my fault!' he snapped.
Poppy shook her head. 'Does she know how you feel about her?' she asked softly, noticing the younger man tense at her question. 'Don't try to deny it Severus. I know you love her.'
'Poppy… it doesn't…'
'Stop that nonsense right now Severus Snape,' she ordered seriously. 'I will not allow you back in this room until tomorrow morning. If you have not slept, I will not let you in to see her.'
Snape glowered at her and crossed his arms. 'Very well Ma'am. I shall do as you say, however, if you do not allow me to come tomorrow, I may be forced to resort to drastic measures,' he said in a clipped tone, before striding out of the room without another word, most likely to get back to his chambers to vent his anger so that he seemed unfazed to his students.
Poppy shook her head, sighing softly to herself, when she heard a cough from the other side of the room. She turned and looked to see Harry standing there with his book bag over his shoulder, and his arms folded over his chest. 'Good morning Madam Pomfrey,' he said politely.
'Mr. Potter, just how long have you been here?' she asked with a slightly worried expression on her face. How much had the boy heard? Severus was not going to be pleased by this.
'Save it Madam Pomfrey. I heard the whole conversation, and I promise not to say anything to anyone else about it,' Harry said sincerely with a heavy sigh as if a heavy burden weighed on his chest. 'I think it was always going to turn out like this. Hermione's more mature than everyone else…'
'You believe Miss Granger returns Severus' feelings?' she asked in surprise.
'I think she has for quite a while now. He isn't as bad to us as he used to be, I suppose. But it's still Snape, and it will take some time to get used to it,' Harry admitted with a small smile. 'How is she today?'
Poppy smiled at the boy. He had come so far. 'She seems to be recuperating steadily. All that will need to happen is for her to wake up,' she replied evenly.
'Thank you,' Harry said, before dropping a kiss to Hermione's forehead and walking out of the room without another word.
It was still about an hour before classes were due to begin for the day, so instead of going to breakfast, Harry made a detour towards the Headmaster's office. He spoke the password, "Gummi Bears" to the stone gargoyle and stepped onto the spiraling stairs that took him to the top of the tower in which Dumbledore's office resided. He knocked on the office door, and waited to hear the soft "come in" before entering.
When he entered, he was surprised to see Professor McGonagall taking tea with the Headmaster by the office fireplace. 'Good morning, Professor's,' Harry greeted politely with a nod.
'Ah, Harry my boy, come and have a seat and join us for some tea,' Albus spoke softly to the younger man.
Harry complied and took the armchair across from his two favourite Professors', accepting the cup of tea that McGonagall levitated his way. He took a small sip, before clearing his throat and finally looking up at them.
'You probably already know what this is about,' Harry said quietly, nervously fingering the teaspoon. He wasn't sure why he wasn't mad yet, but expected that it would kick in eventually.
'We are both aware that you now know that Professor Snape has feelings for Miss Granger,' Dumbledore said kindly. 'Harry, tell me true – are you angered by any of this so far?'
Harry thought about it for a while, before simply shaking his head as a negative. 'I thought I would be, but I'm not really. I was upset when Sn – Professor Snape brought Hermione back to the castle all sick, but I don't really mind that he l-loves her,' Harry replied with a thick swallow. 'I'm not sure if it has really kicked in yet though.'
'I am glad that you are taking this all rather well, Harry. It seems the war has matured you rather spectacularly,' Albus noted proudly, and Minerva, who had not yet spoken beside him nodded.
'I agree that you seem to be handling this sudden information well, yet I sense that this was not the only thing you wished to discuss,' Minerva spoke gently.
Harry nodded and swallowed again to clear his tightening throat. 'Hermione… does she l-love Professor Snape too?' he asked nervously. He wasn't sure he was going to like the answer much, but he was going to accept it for her sake.
Dumbledore smiled. 'I believe that she does Harry. But do not think that she and Severus have been having a relationship. So far, it has only developed into a tentative friendship,' he said somberly, willing Harry to remain calm. 'But I can tell that this horrible even will bring them a lot closer.'
'You approve of it then?' Harry asked.
'Both Professor McGonagall and I will openly accept any such relationship. Severus has had a hard life and has been too lonely for too many years. Hermione will be good for him,' Dumbledore spoke. 'Meanwhile, I feel that while Hermione is still young, she has surpassed many of her contemporaries in knowledge and maturity. She could never be labeled an equal to any of your year.'
Harry nodded, and then had a sudden thought at this and grinned. 'Poor, poor Neville will be heart broken when he finds out,' he mused quietly.
This drew a small snort from the usually sophisticated McGonagall, and Dumbledore began to chuckle softly. 'Fear not for young Mr. Longbottom, Harry. I think he realizes that Hermione is too far out of his reach,' Dumbledore said between soft snorts of laughter.
'He's always had such abysmal luck with girls,' Harry said distantly. 'I think I had better go now though,' he added, standing form his seat and returning his empty tea cup to the coffee table, wondering when he had managed to drink all of it while they had been talking.
'Have a good day, Harry,' Dumbledore said in farewell as Harry smiled and waved before leaving through the way he had come.
He made his way to the classroom he had for first period and met Neville with Luna there, who looked up at him and smiled. 'Hi guys,' he said with a wide grin, kissing Luna on the cheek in greeting.
Luna blushed a little and smiled. 'You didn't go to breakfast Harry. That's not like you.' She said softly, returning his affectionate gesture with an embrace.
'I went to visit Hermione earlier on, and then had tea with Professors' Dumbledore and McGonagall,' he replied, noting Neville's discomfort at his and Luna's physical display of their regard for each other.
'Alright, well I have Transfiguration,' Luna announced, with a dreamy look in her eyes all of the sudden. 'I'll see you both later.'
Harry nodded and watched her as she left and rounded the corner. By then, the class had begun to move into the room as Professor Flitwick delivered instructions on what they had to do once they entered the room. He sat with Neville, Dean and Seamus, and the lesson soon passed fairly quickly without any dramas.
The rest of the day seemed to fly past in a haze for Harry, and before he knew it, it was the last lesson for the day, and ironically, it was Potions with Snape. He had heard during Lunch from some of the younger students that Snape was in a highly agitated mood that day, and had been deducting house points from anyone who dared to disrupt his lesson – even his precious Slytherin's weren't safe from the wrath of an angry Potions Master that day.
While nobody really took notice of a difference in his behavior, Harry noticed everything that had been going on and knew why. He was upset that he had been thrown out of the Hospital Wing for the night, he was tired from a lack of sleep, and the woman he loved was unconscious lying in said Hospital Wing. Harry had felt just as helpless as that once – when Ginny had died. He understood why Snape felt like it was his fault that Hermione got hurt.
He had known the same emotion when he had been unable to save Ginny from her death at the hands of an unknown Death Eater. Hermione had been kidnapped by a former Death Eater, who had not reformed even after the war, and had been tortured and left for dead in a cell to freeze. If Harry knew one thing about the Potions Master, it was that he felt like shit that Hermione was unconscious.
'Get out your books and turn to page 679,' Snape said briskly as he entered the classroom, his robes billowing around him.
Everyone did as they were told, and followed the instructions he wrote on the board, simply reading the text in preparation for the homework essay that he had set for them on the various types of fern that could be used in Potions. Harry kept his head down, and mouth shut the whole time, until they were finally released for the day with a six inch essay due at the end of the week.
As he packed up all of his things to leave, Harry spotted Snape still sitting at his desk with a sneer firmly on his lips and his eyes scanning a book on his desk. He told Neville to go on without him, and with his bag over his shoulder, made his way cautiously towards the unhappy man.
'Professor Snape?' he asked carefully, not wanting to make the irritable man any more so than he was.
Snape looked up at him briefly and glared before returning his attention to the book in front of him without looking at Harry again. 'What do you want Potter?' he asked in a bored tone.
'I came to talk to you about Hermione,' he replied, swallowing nervously.
Snape looked up at him then, his expression the same, but curiosity and surprise flashing in his eyes. 'Why would you want to discuss Miss Granger with me?' he asked slowly, closing the book.
Harry took a deep breath and got ready to see this through before he lost his nerve. 'Look, Professor, I know about you and Hermione being friends, and I know that you care for her. I just wanted to come here to tell you that I don't mind, and that I wanted to lend you this,' Harry said quickly, pulling his invisibility cloak out of his bag and thrusting it towards Snape on the desk.
Snape eyed it warily and fingered it for a moment before realisation dawned in his eyes. 'Why would you give me this, Potter?' he demanded.
'I heard what Madam Pomfrey told you this morning, and I know that if it were me, I would not be pleased either. I just wanted to give you the option of seeing her at least for a little while today,' he explained honestly.
Snape schooled his expression to vague disinterest, but picked the cloak up nonetheless. He really didn't not want to be in debt to another Potter; especially his own student. 'I appreciate your gesture Potter, but what could possibly be your motivation behind such an act? Are you trying to bribe me for better marks in class?' he suggested with a glint in his black eyes.
Harry shook his head. 'I don't want anything from you. I just want you to take care of Hermione and treat her right. She's the only one that I have, and she deserves to be happy,' he replied sincerely. 'Besides, I know how you feel, sir. You feel like it's your entire fault. Trust me – I was like that once, but it is a hell of a lot easier to accept that it was only partially your fault, than to dwell with your guilt.'
Snape's eyebrow lifted a little at that, but he nodded anyway. 'Thank you Potter,' he said quietly. 'I will do my best.'
'Good…' Harry said, before turning and leaving the classroom wordlessly, pleased and knowing that he had done the right thing.
'Bloody Gryffindor's,' Severus muttered under his breath.