Chapter Thirteen
Unlike what most people believed, the chambers of Severus Snape were not itch black and filled with jars of bodily organs and other various disgusting things. In fact, there were windows there, and the rooms were warm and carpeted near the fireplaces. The study and library was amazing and he had more books than any normal person would. But that was just the way Hermione liked him; different from any other men. If he had been like the average man, she wouldn't love him.
She had been there for the past week, still unable to walk, but had regained the use of her arms and could feed herself and bathe herself. She had a charmed wheel chair for the time being, but she preferred to use it as little as possible. Having it made her feel useless. Luckily for her, she had been left all of the class work that she had missed, most of it just revision over things she already knew from reading so much, but still, something to keep her occupied when Severus was teaching.
She had never imagined that she would be staying here in his chambers, but was glad for it nonetheless. She would have died to boredom and monotony in the Hospital Wing, and Madam Pomfrey had agreed that it would be better if she could be left alone. Only Harry, Neville and Luna were really allowed to see her, and Draco had been by once to see how she was, but Severus had been there to keep an eye on him.
Sighing, she looked back down at her Transfiguration textbook and concentrated on the glass on the table in front of her. She was about to cast a charm to change it into a bird, when she felt something fluffy rubbing against her trousers. She looked down to see Crookshanks there purring.
'Hey, Crooks, how did you get in here?' she asked as she leaned down to pat her familiar's head.
'He wouldn't stop his infernal yowling, so Minerva more or less demanded that I bring him down here to his Mistress,' said a silky voice from the doorway behind her.
Hermione sat up and turned so that she could see Severus who was leaning his trim body against the doorway casually in his trousers, white linen shirt and black waistcoat. She smiled at him, and he smirked back at her. 'Hello Severus,' she said softly to her friend and Professor.
'Minerva was right, that orange ball of fur is far more docile with you. If he remains out of my way I may consider letting you keep him here also,' he said in reply. 'But we may have to lay down ground rules.'
Severus saw the cat look up at him indignantly and turn up his nose with a sniff, before returning to the task of enjoying his mistress' attention. Hermione smiled at the interaction, holding a hand out to the snarky Potions Master. He went straight to her then, and took her hand in his swiftly, sitting on the arm of the comfy couch and loosely draping his arm behind her.
'I am almost finished my Transfiguration for the day,' she commented idly, releasing his hand reluctantly. 'When I'm done can we go outside? Please Severus. I haven't been out of this castle for a month, and if I don't soon, I'll go berserk.'
He sighed in resignation. He would take her outside because he loved her and would do anything to please her. 'Alright, but don't bother with that homework. It's Saturday. Enjoy your weekend doing nothing and work during the school week,' he said firmly. 'And don't argue with that. You really need to get your priorities sorted out. It's not healthy to study all of the time. You need to relax and let your body relax. When you stress, it stresses your body too.'
Hermione pouted in a way that made him want to lean down and kiss that look off her face, but he couldn't. She only saw him as a friend, and it would have been a violation of the faith and trust she had in him. He shook his head and got up from the seat, picking Hermione up into his arms and helping to lower her into the wheel chair. He got her coat and gave it to her to put on while he went to find his frock coat and long winter jacket. If they were going for a walk out in the snow, then he certainly wasn't going to let either of them freeze for it.
'Ready to go?' he asked when he returned, fully dressed in totally black attire. Hermione, now wearing her long black winter coat and her ruby scarf, nodded in affirmation and smiled at him appreciatively.
'Ready when you are, Captain,' she proclaimed, nudging her fur ball of a familiar off her lap and wheeling towards him.
'Why do you insist on wheeling that thing the Muggle way? You have magic that will make it do all of that for you,' he asked curiously.
'Because I feel so useless in this thing as it is, and it would only be worse if I relied on magic to get myself around your chambers honestly,' she replied with a slight frown, 'I can't wait to be able to walk around again.'
'You will be able to walk again soon, I promise you that,' Severus said softly. 'I have been working on modifying a healing Potion that will restore the movement of your legs faster that normal.'
'Really? Oh Severus you didn't have to do that,' Hermione said, looking down at her lap nervously.
Severus went to her and tipped her chin up to face him. 'I promised to help you get better in any way that I can, and it has been keeping me occupied when I'm bored,' he said with a small smile, stepping back and moving behind the chair to grasp the handles.
He pushed Hermione out of his chambers and through the chillier dungeons to the side door exit there. It had been a useful exit for him in his spying days, and it would rove useful once again in its use as a door for Hermione and Severus to leave the castle without the students noticing their unusual relationship with each other. Hermione settled in and felt a warming charm wash over her and the chair.
As they moved along the path around the castle through the snow, Hermione wondered about the man pushing her along the path. Severus had given up part of his personal space to accommodate her without expecting anything in return. He had rescued her from Lucius Malfoy, he had rescued her at the Final Battle, he had nursed her back to health, he had stayed by her side, and he had offered her comfort, friendship and independence to do as she pleased.
He was honestly one of her very best friends if she were honest. He did everything for her and asked for nothing in return. Some days she swore that she saw something else glittering in his eyes apart from his general concern, but she usually brushed it off as a trick of the light. He couldn't have romantic feelings for her.
She often wished that he did though, for then her feelings would be returned. She had settled for friendship, but knew that her love would be unrequited. Minerva and Albus had hinted and then outright told her that Severus had feelings for her, but she somehow thought that their assumptions were wrong. He had never given her any indication that they should take their relationship further.
After all, it had only been two months really since they had begun their initially tedious friendship, and she did not want to loose what she already had.
'Severus?' she asked softly.
'Yes Hermione?' he answered.
'Do you think Harry and Luna could come by this afternoon? They owled me and said that I should ask you if it was alright,' she asked somewhat hesitantly.
'I believe that I have already stated that Potter and Miss Lovegood are welcome to come any time as long as they owl beforehand and let me know what they plan to do,' he replied briskly.
'Are you still sore that you owe Harry a favor for the whole cloak deal?' Hermione asked with a barely hidden grin and a laugh.
Severus grumbled from above her as they pushed along the path and had almost returned to where they had started. 'Perhaps I am just irked at the fact that I will be surrounded by Gryffindor's and Gryffindor sympathizers?' he suggested warily.
Hermione laughed at that. 'Severus Snape that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard you say. You spend time with Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall all of the time, and I know for a fact that they are your best friends,' Hermione said with a cheeky grin up at him.
'They are not my best friends, you are my best friend,' he said softly. 'They are my family.'
Hermione felt her chest tighten at his nearly whispered words. She was always surprised by this side of her extremely complex Potions Master. He could be so terribly harsh and demanding, but he was still loving, caring and a loyal friend and colleague. It sounded as though Minerva and Albus were like his family in more ways than one. It touched her deeply that he considered her to be his best friend.
'That is possibly the sweetest thing you have ever said, Severus,' she admitted to him, flashing him a sweet smile before turning to face the right way as they re-entered the castle and got out of the chill.
'If you tell anyone, I will make sure you can not speak for the rest of the week,' he warned her teasingly.
'Nobody would believe me,' she said as they entered his chambers.
He nodded in concession. 'I will admit that I have built a rather distinguishable exterior for the outsiders to view,' he said simply.
Hermione laughed at the way he twisted words. 'Oh just admit it. You like being a horrible bastard to all of the poor Hufflepuff's and Ravenclaw's, not to mention us poor little Gryffindor's,' she teased.
He smirked as he scooped her out of the wheelchair and placed her back on the comfy lounge she had been seated on before they had left for their walk. 'I do not believe that in my lifetime, I have ever met a Gryffindor that is either poor or little,' he commented as he deposited her.
'I suppose you have me there,' she agreed.
'That I do,' he murmured, gazing down at her face that was flushed a little from the cool air outside, her curls loosely pulled back in a braid with some escaping the confines of the plait. She was so beautiful. 'Now would you like some tea? I'm putting on the kettle, so it's your choice really.'
'How about some cocoa -- If you don't mind that is,' she answered, flushing a little for asking him that.
He simply smiled at her a little and turned to go to his kitchen. 'Cocoa with marshmallows it is then,' he said as he walked away.
Hermione grinned. He knew how she liked to take all of her drinks now. He knew that she liked a spoon of sugar and cream in her coffee, that she liked Jasmine tea in the mornings, and Lapsang to help her sleep at night, that she took marshmallows in her hot cocoa and that she didn't talk in the mornings until after she had at least one good cup of strong coffee.
Actually, that had worked out rather well for both of them on weekends when they ate together in the mornings. He wasn't a talker either until he had at least two cups. They got along remarkably well in fact. Hermione thought that her presence would be an annoyance or an intrusion, but they had not argued once, and he did not seem to be bored with her presence.
'One hot cocoa, with that absurdly disgusting Muggle confectionary floating around in it,' Severus announced as he entered the room levitating a tray with him, settling it on the coffee table after moving some of her books.
Hermione giggle a little at his description of the marshmallows. He really did come up with some rather creative names to call things that he didn't particularly take a liking to – for instance marshmallows, and Crookshanks, the "ginger fur ball of a familiar". She liked it – it was very characteristic of him.
'Thank you, Severus. I know how you detest it, and the effort is sincerely appreciated,' she said with a sweet smile that she knew would make him cave.
He sighed. 'Anything to make you comfortable,' he said drolly.
He seated himself on the couch opposite her and began partaking in the tea that he had made for himself as she sipped at the cocoa. After a while sitting in companionable silence, he decided that it was time for one of them to say something.
'So what are you working on?'
'Extra credit for Transfiguration,' she replied. 'I'm researching charms that transform anything into small birds. I've figured out everything except for the part where I actually change objects into the birds. I can conjure them out of nothing easily, but I can't seem to get it to change the objects I concentrate on.'
'That sounds impressive,' he said seriously. Honestly, this girl was amazing. She was already certainly going to get the highest mark in that class. What was she doing extra credit for?
'And I was going to talk to you about doing extra credit for Potions as well. I have already finished my revision and catch-up for everything this week, and I've run out of things to occupy me. So I'd like to do something, and I think Potions would be interesting for me to do,' she explained. 'Besides, Potions is my best subject before Arithmancy and Transfiguration.'
Severus took in everything she had just said and then processed it into his own language, which involved a few less words. 'Alright, what did you have in mind to do?' he asked curiously.
'Well, now that you mention it, I really don't know what I could do,' she said, blushing a little for not having thought that through.
'I have an idea for you, and it would most likely end up getting you many offers to apprentice with Potions masters all over Europe if you get it right,' he said hesitantly, looking at her face to see what her expressions were saying.
'What do you have in mind?'
'Well, as I mentioned earlier, I was working on a Potion to heal injuries and restore movements faster, but it could lead on to more,' he explained carefully. 'You see, if somehow, someone were to find a cure for long-term injuries and illnesses, they would be extremely sought after.'
'You think I could do that?' she asked in surprise.
'I don't think it Hermione, I know you could do it,' he said confidently. 'In fact, I have done research on it, and I think it would be interesting to have another perspective on it. What do you think?'
'You want me to work with you on it?'
'We would share the rights and outcome if we were successful, and any reproductions of it would have to have rights of sale and reproduction from us,' he said with an almost excited hint to his voice.
She gave him a look as if she were going to contemplate it over time, before suddenly smiling at him and nodding emphatically. 'I would love to, Severus,' she said in an excited tone.
Relief tore through him at that. He was so sure she would have rejected his offer.