Chapter 14 -Just 2 Sweet~Hearts-
Severus Snape was sitting in his study, looking at his old graduation-photo again. Carefully he searched the rows of former fellow students for a very special face that appeared in his every dream nowadays, bringing out new, disturbing developments of their relationship every time. He had reached a point, at which he feared to fall asleep at night because of the dreams he might be facing. These dreams were worse than any nightmare ever, as they brought happiness such as he had never known, and the heartache of being alone again when he awoke.
He had already tried to keep the dreams away with the help of a very strong Dreamless Sleep Potion, but this hadn't helped in the slightest. These were no dreams in an ordinary sense, they were memories – and therefore unaffected by the potion.
With a grave sigh he put the photograph down. She was still not in there but he knew that she was attending the Hogwarts of those days and would appear in his graduation photo soon, if he didn't find a way to bring her back.
He didn't know what he feared more – to watch her developing a relationship with him in the past, or having to face her in the present again. He had promised to do her potions essay and other homework today – in the past. This was almost a joke in itself. He had never thought to see the day when Hermione Granger would allow anyone else do her homework. For all he knew about time travelling, she had to remember him – from the present – and would therefore know it was her future professor who did her Potions essay that night. With a dark frown he wondered if she might laugh at him for this. But she seemed to be so nice, so kind and adorable. He wished he could have talked to her right now. But then, on the other hand, it might have been a quite awkward conversation.
Nonetheless he missed her. He missed the precious hours of studying with her in the early mornings. He missed the sunlight gleaming in her mass of chocolate-coloured curls and the sparkles of mirth dancing in her eyes when she laughed – the feel of her arms around his waist when she had embraced him on New Year's morning on top of the Astronomy tower – and sometimes, in a vulnerable state of drowsiness, in the brief unreal moments of falling asleep, he allowed himself to think of the possibility of finding her acting the same way around him if she were back in their own time again. But fully awake he had to admit to himself that these hopes were pointless. He might be falling for her, but she never ever would return his feelings, if she was ever to get back into the present again. What was all this supposed to lead into? The oddities of the time travel accident really got to him. He clearly 'remembered' his former self's torrent of emotion, when she had placed that slight kiss on his cheek. He had been surprised by her reaction back then, but from today's point of view it had completely, utterly stunned him. If she really knew it was him – her future professor, whom she despised – why had she kissed his cheek then?
He was so very confused by all of this. He had awoken to the soft warm contact of her lips on his skin, but not before he had noticed Black and Lupin entering the library, and since he knew this dream was mirroring past happenings just as the other ones had, he could only hope Hermione wouldn't get into any trouble because of him now. What chaos –
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When Severus descended the narrow, spiral staircase that led down from the owlery, he felt a mad happiness that made his heart jump and flutter in his chest. He had just sent her an owl.
Of course, it wasn't a love letter in common sense. He had only finished her homework, but he had added a small note to it.
He had written every word very carefully to make it easier for her to read his handwriting, and had drawn the Astronomy map with all its moons and stars and the exact distances between them very neatly. All the time he had thought of the little kiss she had placed on his cheek, and he hadn't been able to wipe that happy smile off his face. He had been at a loss for words about that spontaneous display of affection, but his heart had beat madly with joy.
It was almost eleven o'clock and she was probably back from her detention by now. Figg wouldn't keep her busy for more than three hours, would she?
For a brief moment he reconsidered the possibility of heading down to the potions classroom to see if Hermione was still there. He didn't doubt that Figg had made her do something really nasty and she was most likely quite depressed by now. Maybe he could walk her back to Gryffindor tower and make her feel a little better.
But no, he wasn't sure if she would feel comfortable in his company after what happened at the library earlier. Black and Lupin had entered the room just that moment, when she had kissed him on the cheek. Lupin hadn't said much, but Severus had noticed the hurt expression in his eyes. Black on the contrary, had looked at them with such hatred that Severus had been certain that another fight would ensue. Well, he couldn't blame him for – that. If things had been the other way round and he had witnessed her kissing Black on the cheek, he wouldn't have liked it one bit either. Certainly, neither of them had any right to be this jealous about her, she hadn't ever dated either of them, but he couldn't help his feelings and Black was obviously just as affected by her as he was.
Hermione had been quite uncomfortable with the whole situation. He had noticed her tense at her friends' entry. Most obviously she had feared another scene, but for some reason, Black had suddenly turned towards Lupin and had pretended to be completely oblivious to her presence. He had completely ignored them. As far as Severus was concerned, this wasn't a good sign at all, and he could only hope her friends wouldn't give her a hard time now because of him. He knew quite well how that felt. Lucius acted as if Severus had turned traitor on the house of Slytherin itself by just speaking to her. He had incited their roommates and some other house members against him. Mellon McNair didn't even speak to him anymore.
Not that he minded. She had been after him for the last three years and it was a relief to finally get some room. She was hanging around with Nott now, who didn't seem to mind at all. Mellon was quite a pretty girl, though. With her auburn, curly hair and brown eyes she didn't look bad at all. Severus had dated her a few times and had even kissed her twice, but he had always felt uncomfortable. She had never made him feel the way Hermione did. When Hermione was with him, he was so very happy. Nervous and terribly insecure, yes, but happy. And when she wasn't around him, he missed her. Constantly. He watched her at meals in the Great Hall and wished he could sit with her, talk to her and make her smile, when she stared into space so absentmindedly sometimes. She was probably thinking of her old school then, he supposed. She presumably missed her friends. He had noticed that she never got any mail, which was odd since at least her parents should have written to her. She never talked about her old school, or why she had left it in the middle of term, and sometimes she looked so sad. He wondered if she might be hiding from someone or something like that. But he wouldn't ask her, if she didn't want to talk about it. He had promised her not to do so.
He thought of her before he fell asleep and quite often, he even dreamed of her. The early hours of morning, when they were all alone at the library, was his favourite time of day and working together with her in class was wonderful, too. Quite often he had almost asked her out for the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend, but hadn't dared to do so at the last minute.
Neither her friends nor his own seemed to appreciate the fact that they got along so well with each other. He wasn't afraid of the trouble it might bring for himself, but he didn't want to separate her from her new-found friends when she was still suffering over the loss of her old ones. This was all so very stupid. Couldn't they just leave them alone? He was very well aware of the nasty rumours that were flying around, but couldn't really do anything against them. His every attempt to speak up for her made the whole mess even worse.
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When Hermione returned to her dorm after the detention, she was completely worn out. Figg had made her scrub a couple of old cauldrons that had some burnt-on residue on their bottoms, for more than two hours. Without magic.
Although it was quite late already Lily was still up, waiting for her. She lay on her bed on her stomach, sorting photos into a large album, and looked up at her friend's entrance.
"An owl arrived for you, Géraldine. It's one of the school owls." There was an undoubtedly curious tone in her voice. "I untied the rolls of parchment from its leg, but it refused to leave. It has obviously been told to wait for an answer."
Hermione sighed and placed her bag on the chair beside her bed. Lily would probably want to hear more about this uncharacteristic homework-service.
A large grey owl sat at the foot of her bed. A ring at its leg identified it as one of the Hogwarts' owls. She had never seen such a big owl before, but a smaller one wouldn't have made it up to Gryffindor Tower with all these rolls of parchment that lay at the foot of her bed.
"Did you expect any post?" Lily asked casually.
'Here it goes,' Hermione sighed inwardly. "Ewwm, well, yes. It's from Severus," she muttered.
At that news Lily gave up the attempt to appear only casually interested and stared at her roommate, her mouth hanging slightly open. It was such a silly sight that Hermione started to giggle.
"Don't say he is sending you such an oversized love letter?!"
Hermione couldn't help but blush at the idea. "No," she giggled, "it's no love letter. It the Astronomy map and some other homework I couldn't finish before my detention started tonight."
Lily's confusion didn't fade at this, "Did Snape do them for you?!" she asked, taken aback.
Hermione just nodded.
"Wow," Lily muttered.
With a happy grin Hermione turned her attention once again towards the large grey owl which was still patiently waiting for her response. She picked up an apple from her bedside table and sliced it into small bits. The grey owl started hooting softly when Hermione offered him the reward and Miss Grey, Lily's cat, watched the scene with respect at a safe distance. She didn't exactly trust this large feathered creature and the strange noise it made.
Hermione spread the rolls of parchment across her bed. Carefully wrapped into the neatly drawn Astronomy map was a short note on an extra piece of parchment.
Dear Géraldine,
I hope the old Figg didn't plague you too much with her detention. Here are the Astronomy map and the History tasks. I tried to keep the Transfiguration and Potions essays as brief as possible, without leaving the important facts out. This way it won't take you long to add the missing text to your own. Are you still coming to the library tomorrow morning?
I'll be there. Sleep well,
Severus¥
Down at his Slytherin dormitory, Severus was impatiently waiting for the owl to return. Already dressed in his dark-blue pyjamas, his hands folded behind his neck, he stared up into the velvet-clad canopy atop his bed. His black tomcat Nossy watched him intensely out of his slightly narrowed, yellow eyes. He seemed to sense Severus' nervousness quite well and didn't purr at the moment.
When Severus was just about to give up waiting for an answer, there was the sharp sound of talons tapping against the glass. Immediately he jumped to his feet and hurried towards the window nook. Wind-ruffled and wet with rain, the large grey owl he had sent to Gryffindor Tower earlier slipped through the thick green velvety curtains. Severus' heartbeat quickened at the sight of the small note that was tied to its leg. She had actually written back. Nervously he untied the little message and sent the bird off into the night again.
Lucius, who was reading in his own bed, turned his head to look at his roommate. His pale-blond eyebrows rose in mock surprise at the sight of the letter in Severus' hand. "Oh this wouldn't be a message from little Miss smutty Gryffindor the mudblood, would it?"
Severus grit his teeth with anger. He didn't respond to the insult though and climbed back into his bed as quick as possible. Before the other boy could make any more nasty comments, Severus drew the curtains shut and cast a complete silencing spell around his bed once again. Inside the privacy of his so-enchanted four-poster he read the note and told Nossy all about the day's happenings and his confused thoughts and feelings. Slowly he felt the tension leave his body. The pleasant sound of his tomcat's purring eased him out of his anger. With a slight smile he finally fell asleep, the precious note clutched tightly in his hand.
Dear Severus,
Thank you once again for your help. You can't even imagine, how glad I am that I won't have to stay up a few more hours to finish the map and essays now. I only hope it wasn't too much trouble for you. Don't worry about the detention. It wasn't too bad. I think I better get busy now. See you at the library tomorrow at the usual time.
Sleep well yourself,
H.
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Meeting at the library the next morning was a little awkward at first, but after they were seated in their usual places and started to work on the History chapter they had set themselves as a task for today, all reluctance was gone. They got along as well as ever with one another, but once or twice Hermione noticed Severus looking at her from the corner of his eye when he supposed her to be busy. They discussed the chapter and took notes as usual, but didn't mention the little kiss with one word. Severus because he didn't want to spoil the happy imagination it could have been meant as more than a little thank you, Hermione cause she knew it had been more and didn't dare to admit it.
So they carefully avoided discussing the previous evening, with the exception of Severus telling her how curious Lucius had been, when the owl had brought her letter. This made Hermione laugh. She could very well imagine that the jerk burned with anticipation to get his hands on the note.
Time seemed to pass more than quickly, and when they finally headed for the Great Hall, breakfast had already begun. The vast room was crowded with students and Hermione noticed at once that the wave of murmur was very different from that of other mornings. Nervously she glanced at Severus beside her, but he just shrugged. Slowly both of them headed for their House tables. Hermione noticed no one seemed to care about the fact that Severus and she had entered the Great Hall together. Relieved that for once the excited whispering didn't seem to be centred around them, she slipped into her seat next to Lily, who told her the news.
"Oh Géraldine, there you are. Couldn't part from the library once again, could you? Just think, we're going to have a ball on Valentine's Day. Dumbledore just told us. Only students from the third year on are allowed to participate. First and second years only when invited by an older student. Since the ball will be on a Tuesday the first three classes of the following day will be free. Isn't that great news?! Dumbledore said that the last ball of this kind was held ten years ago. Aren't we lucky to have one at our final year at Hogwarts!? We need to look for nice dresses at our next Hogsmeade weekend. What do you say?" she asked excitedly.
"But Lily," Hermione complained, "what shall I buy a dress for? I don't even know if I'll be going to the ball."
"No buts, of course you'll go," her friend interrupted her impatiently. "We'll both go. And we'll dance with each of our dear boys here. Oh, we will have a great time, just see?"
Hermione wasn't too convinced of this, though, and a look in the direction of the boys wasn't helpful to change her opinion in the matter, either.
Sirius stared at his plate, chewing his lip, a dark expression on his face. Remus looked out of the window as if he were suddenly immensely interested in the clouds outside. Frank exchanged some glances with Solange at the Ravenclaw table, and James didn't take his eyes off Lily. Only Peter didn't look much affected by the news, when he told them that he would use the next Hogsmeade trip to finally buy some new dung bombs at Zonko's for the prank he still had to play on Lucius Malfoy.
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The rain pattered steadily against the shop windows and made all the pretty dress robes inside blur into nothing but various patches of colour. The merry sound of laughter drifted into the rain outside. Two young girls, one a red-head, the other with chocolate coloured hair, stood on small wooden foot benches to get their robes charmed into the perfect length and size.
The robes of the brown-haired girl were dark midnight-blue silk and had a v-neck of just the right depth to look charming, but not too revealing. The soft silk was cut to follow the young woman's curves and to show off her figure in a pretty way. Except for the v-neck, there was not much skin to be seen. The long sleeves were cut to cover half of her hands as well. The smooth, silky cloth widened only in the last inches from the wrist to the cuffs. Likewise the long robes flared gently but steadily and finally fell to the floor in rich folds to give the owner's feet room to dance. Since the folds started a few inches higher at the back, the robes appeared to be longer there than at the front although both ended two inches above the ground so not to sweep the floor.
The other girl, the one with the dark-red hair, wore exactly the same dress robes in a different colour. The deep ruby-red silk seemed to sparkle at her every move. In addition to her dark-red hair it was a stunning, spectacular sight. Insecurely she checked her appearance in the huge wood-framed mirror in the back of the shop.
"What do you think, Géraldine?" she asked nervously as she looked over her shoulder at her friend. "Would you mind if I bought the same dress robes as you?"
The addressee climbed down from her foot bench and approached her friend with a smile.
"No, not at all Lily. They look completely different in another colour. We can very well wear the same cut."
Lily run down her hands across the smooth silky cloth and smiled. "They are beautiful, aren't they?"
"Yes, they are," Hermione agreed with a smile. " – and you can certainly wear these ones. You look simply – stunning – in red, but won't you try the same dress robes in emerald green, before you make a final decision? I'm sure they would look beautiful with your eyes."
Lily looked at her in surprise, then giggled all of a sudden. "I should have known. Why won't you wear the Slytherin ones? I'm sure, your 'dearest' Sev would love that sight."
Hermione blushed at that and turned her head to see if anyone had heard the comment. To her relief everyone else seemed to be too busy with their own search for dresses.
"Shht – Lily," Hermione hissed nervously, "don't say things like that aloud. Someone might hear you. And green isn't my colour anyway," she added hastily.
"Not your colour, ha?" Lily grinned and winked an eye at her. "Well if you say so. I'm not giving James a heart attack by showing up, wearing the same colour as the Slytherin Quidditch team."
"No," Hermione mocked, "you chose Gryffindor colours instead. Honestly, Lily, you look truly beautiful in red, but are you really sure you want to make such a furore?"
"Mm-maybe you're right about that," the other girl grinned. "I would hardly be able to make out with James, if everyone is staring at me."
Hermione rolled her eyes in mock annoyance. "Honestly, Miss Evans," she sniffed in her best McGonagall kind of voice, "I cannot tolerate such behaviour."
"You of all people should be careful, Miss Henshler" Lily snapped amazingly Figg-like and tapped her index finger against Hermione's chest, "you are turning my favourite student's head around, you are distracting him right in front of my eyes and putting the poor boy through a great deal of misery. This has to stop. Do you hear me?"
"I'm so sorry Ma'am," Hermione snorted, "but the 'poor boy' is putting me through just the same misery at the moment, and I'm definitely planning to change something about it."
At that Lily hugged her and both girls broke into a fit of giggles.
"Na, na, na, young ladies," the threatening voice of the shop owner interrupted their laughter. "Be careful with the robes, will you?"
Lily turned her head to look at the old woman. "I'm sorry, Miss Stitch." She smoothed the material of her robes down with her hand. "Could I please try the green robes as well?" she smiled.
A quarter hour later, both girls left the shop with two equally sized bags of brown paper that had been charmed to resist the rain. Hermione had decided for the midnight-blue robes, whereas Lily had bought the emerald green ones. She had to admit that they suited her far better than the intense red robes. They were beautiful in a completely different sense and far more elegant. The soft silk material glittered mysteriously at her every move, and brought to mind a deep, bottle-green river, or the soft rustling of leaves in the treetops of the Forbidden Forest; instead of the flickering flames of a fireplace watched through a glass of red wine. The colour matched her eyes perfectly and made a charming contrast to the dark red of her hair.
When they still hesitated to step into the rain outside, they suddenly spotted the boys amidst the crowd of umbrellas and hooded figures in the High Street. James waved his hand to catch their attention and Sirius pointed at the nearby shield of Honeydukes. Lily and Hermione nodded in agreement. Saving their heads with the hoods of their cloaks, all of them hurried through the gusts of rain into the sweet shop across the street.
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Indoors, all of the school seemed to be assembled. One could hardly move inside the narrow shop with all its shelves loaded with sweets. The smell of wet clothing filled the air and mixed with the various scents of confectionery. It was almost impossible to hear the sound of one's own voice in this crowd of laughing, hustling and bustling students.
The old couple who ran the shop had some trouble to fulfil every wish.
When the group walked round a large shelf of sweet boxes, Sirius suddenly bumped into another boy, who dropped the box of chocolate frogs he had been carrying.
"Oops, I'm sorry," Sirius started, but froze in mid-sentence when he recognized the other boy.
"Snape," he spat, "what the heck is a overgrown bat like you doing at a sweet-shop?"
"Watch it Black," Severus sneered, "I've run out of my blood-flavour lollies and might go for some human blood instead. What are you going to buy anyway?" he scoffed, "Dog biscuits?" He picked up the box of chocolate frogs with a wave of his wand. Sirius, who took this as a threat, immediately grabbed his own wand.
Before things could get out of hand, Sirius was dragged away by James and Remus. Both boys were glaring at Severus, who just sneered back at them.
"Come," Lily whispered to Hermione and took her arm, "we'd better go." Hermione threw an apologetic smile at Severus. "I'm sorry," she mouthed silently when she brushed past him along with Lily and Peter. To her surprise Severus just returned her smile, but said nothing. He then shoved himself through the crowd of students to pay for some sweets he had chosen. Hermione still stared after him, when he left the shop with a slight smile.
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After the crowded sweet-shop it was a relief to step into the quiet, dim atmosphere of the narrow and pleasantly empty book-store. The only other visitor, a black-haired boy in the back at the shop, looked up at the sound of the bell-ring that announced her entry. To her surprise Hermione found herself face to face with Severus once again.
"Hi," he smiled and lowered the book he had been reading in. "Where have you left your friends?"
She returned the smile warmly, "They headed for the Quidditch shop, but I wasn't interested to gape at the newest racing broom. I'm glad if I can avoid flying."
"Oh – me, too," he smiled sympathetically. "I don't like flying very much, either."
"I supposed so," Hermione muttered softly and gestured in the direction of his book. "What's that?"
"Oh, just a book about the development of potions brewing over the centuries. It's probably quite boring to you. You wouldn't want to read it."
"I wouldn't count on that. May I have a look?"
"Certainly. Here you are," he offered the book to her and their hands touched. Hermione noticed that his skin still felt cold from the rain outside. She tried to focus her attention on the book, but couldn't concentrate very well. After only a few moments she passed it back to him.
"Well, it doesn't look bad, if you ask me, but I'm not in the mood for reading right now."
He gave her an unreadable look at this. "Well I'll probably buy that book, but if you want to have a look around the shop, I'll wait. We could take a walk around Hogsmeade afterwards, what do you think?"
Right that instant a heavy sheet of sleety-rain hit the shop window. Hermione couldn't help but giggle. "Well, a walk sounds perfectly fine to me, it's just the weather I'm a little worried about, you know?"
Severus returned her grin with some insecurity. "Do you have a better idea then?"
Hermione nodded. "Yes, I'm supposed to meet the others at the 'Three Broomsticks' later on. Maybe we could head there, what to you think?"
She noticed him tense at the mention of her friends and thought at first he might object, but then his face lit up all of a sudden. "Would you care for a glass of Butterbeer then?" he asked and she beamed at him. "Oh yes, that sounds really like a good idea to me."
"Shall we go, then?" Severus smiled. "That is, after you select your purchases, of course," he added hastily.
Hermione hesitated. She hadn't really planned to buy anything. She didn't want to mess with the money Professor McGonagall had kindly lent to her after all. And since she had already bought the dress robes, she certainly couldn't afford to buy a book she didn't really need right now. She had just planned to look around the shop, but now the prospect of sitting at the pub with Severus seemed much more appealing to her.
"No, she smiled, "no I don't want to search for a book now. Let's go, Severus."
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Like the sweet-shop, the pub was crowded and many heads looked up at their entry. Hermione was well aware of the little whispers and curious glances. This would probably start a new wave of rumours, but she didn't really care. She was so very happy that he had finally asked her to come here with him, even if it wasn't a real date. It was something close to it, and she felt very excited all of a sudden. When Severus tried to help her out of her cloak, her arm got caught in the sleeve and made them both laugh at the awkwardness of the situation.
Severus put their cloaks onto the coat rack and got the Butterbeers, while Hermione went ahead to save them a seat at one of the last free tables. She chose the smallest one in a cosy, quiet nook by the fireplace.
A couple of minutes later Severus appeared with two large glasses of Butterbeer. He seated himself at the small side of the table, at right angles to her, and leaned his knee against hers. Hermione didn't withdraw her leg at the contact and neither did he. It was similar to the situation on New Year's morning, when they had sat on the old stone bench and later walked back to the castle holding hands in silent agreement. Like then she felt very comfortable, but also terribly wriggly and excited at the same time. For a few moments neither of them spoke, then Severus' eyes fell to the bag on the bench beside her.
"What's that?" he asked with surprise.
Hermione couldn't help blushing slightly. "Oh, that," she remarked as casually as possible. "That's my new dress robes."
"For the ball?" he asked and she nodded.
"Do you have a date?" he asked quite tensely.
"No," Hermione shook her head then looked up at him. "Are you going with someone?" she asked nervously.
He clearly avoided her eyes. "No," he remarked quietly and looked at his glass, which he shoved in tiny circles across the table.
"Oh," mouthed Hermione, likewise turning her glass in her hands, unable to think of anything good to say.
Neither did Severus as it seemed. He took another sip of his Butterbeer and looked around the pub. Neither of them spoke. They just watched the students at the other tables for some time, and Hermione glanced nervously into the direction of the door every now and then. If only the others wouldn't arrive too soon.
"But you're going nonetheless, aren't you?" Severus asked all of a sudden.
Hermione who had supposed the topic to be ended, flinched with surprise. "Ohw ewr, I .. don't know?" she stuttered nervously.
"But you bought new dress robes," Severus frowned, "so you're certainly going, aren't you? Who asked you out? Black? Lupin?" he asked rather sharply. Hermione's heart started to flutter with excitement. He almost sounded jealous, didn't he?
"No one, honestly," she told him hastily, "I'll just go with Lily and the boys, I suppose."
"Ah –" he continued to turn the glass in his hands.
"Are you going, too?" Hermione asked softly.
"Huuw?"
"If you are going to the ball as well?"
"Oh, I don't know yet. But no, I probably won't go," he shrugged.
"Oh – but –"
Some noise and a burst of laughter from the door made them look up. Lily and the boys had entered the pub and were craning their necks to search for her. Hermione's and Severus' eyes locked for a couple of seconds, each of them thinking the same. 'Damn.'
"I'd better go," he muttered and started to get up, leaving his half-emptied glass on the table. On an impulse Hermione grabbed his forearm to keep him back. "No, don't," she asked with a sad expression in her eyes. "Please stay –"
For a few seconds he hesitated, she could see him fighting an inner battle and she almost expected him to sit down again, but then he slowly shook his head. "It wouldn't be a good idea," he muttered. "I don't want you to get into trouble with your friends because of me."
She was just about to complain, when Lily and the boys already appeared at their table.
Much to Hermione's surprise neither Severus nor Sirius said a single word. But if glances had been able to kill, neither of them would have lived to the next day.
Hermione could have screamed with frustration when Severus left. Sadly, she watched him step into the rain outside. She really had to fight the urge to just jump up and join him on his walk back to the school. She didn't want to run after him.
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The noise and cheerfulness of her friends got on her nerves all of a sudden. She couldn't enjoy the jokes and laughter around her one bit. All her thoughts were with Severus. She wondered if he was already back at the school, and what he might be doing right now. He'd probably sit in one of the window seats at the library with his new potions book, she supposed.
He had told her the Slytherin common room was quite damp and chilly on a rainy day like this. So the library was by far the better option. How much she would have enjoyed to sit in the cosy window seat with him right now.
Only when Frank started to take photos with the new wizard's camera he had got for Christmas, she snapped out of her brooding for a while. But she wasn't really into this either. She tried her best to force her lips into a smile, but didn't really succeed.
She didn't speak much. All the time her thoughts wandered off towards Severus. She just couldn't help it.
When it was finally time to head back to Hogwarts again, she jumped to her feet, utterly relieved to get finally out of there. Lily passed her more than one odd look, but didn't ask in front of the boys.
Some more students prepared to leave right then and Hermione was glad that James, Peter and Sirius got all of their cloaks and spared them the trouble to mix among the bustling crowd by the coat rack. Since Remus and Frank were talking to each other, Lily leaned forward to whisper into her ear. "Is everything all right, Géraldine? You didn't get into a fight with Snape, did you?"
Hermione just shook her head.
"Did he ask you to the Valentine's ball?" Lily whispered, but got just another head shaking as an answer.
"Oh – " she touched her friend's elbow in a comforting gesture, "is it that you're so sad about?"
"No, it's just –" Hermione began, but the boys already returned with the cloaks and put their discussion to an end.
When Sirius helped Hermione into her cloak, he even smiled at her. She didn't really know what to think of this after the way he had completely ignored her the past few days. Maybe he was finally coming to his senses. It was certainly about time, she decided, and thanked him with a smile. She couldn't decipher the look she got from him at this, though.
Stepping outside into the rain again Hermione drew the hood above her head and burrowed her hands into the pockets of her cloak, but froze in mid-movement. In the deeps of her left pocket her fingertips felt something scratchy that felt like a small bag of cellophane with a weight inside. Very carefully, so not to draw attention towards herself, she picked it up far enough to peer inside her pocket. She had been right about her first guess. In the palm of her hand lay a small transparent cellophane bag from Honeydukes, but at the sight of its contents her eyes widened with disbelief. These were no ordinary sweets, but a pair of heart-shaped pralines of light-brown and dark bitter chocolate. Confused, she noticed the golden print on the wrapping:
Just 2 Sweet ~ Hearts.
A small, likewise golden, heart-shaped card dangled from the scarlet-red band the little bag was closed with. Stunned, Hermione flipped the little card over and gasped with surprise at what she saw...
A/N: Sorry about the long delay. I almost didn't dare to show my face again. Lots of thanks for all e-mails and reviews and a very big Thank You to SilentG for beta-reading this chapter! February 14th of the year 1978 was indeed a Tuesday by the way.
*Piri Lupin-Snape* Thank you for the first review to the 13th chapter.
*Mary* I love to be cruel. You know that. Thanks for your e-mail.
*C-chan, AKA Sailor Capricorn* Thanks to you and Rini. I'm glad that I could convince you of Snape's greatness.
*Birdie* Don't worry, I'll find someone for Sirius, too. I already have a plan. And I won't forget about Remus either.
*Lee Velviet* Thank you for this very, very nice review. It truly made me happy.
*aznvietgirl* Yes.
*Lucky5 * Oh yes, I have something in store for Sirius as well.
*Lil' Miss* I don't think Sirius is a bad guy. He just can't stand Snape and now he seems to steel the girl he fancies. That's bad.
*tiger* They will kiss, don't worry.
Serpentina