Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter.

How do you spell whomping willow and Cruciatus (have I already asked that)? I apologise in advanced if it is wrong.

Chapter 14

It took Severus roughly fifteen minutes to finish his mammoth meal, and as he put his knife and fork in the bowl with a small clink, he decided to take his cutlery to the sink himself. Usually he would have left it for the house elves to deal with. However, on this occasion, he wanted to check on Miss Granger.

There was something not quite right with the girl, and he couldn't place his finger on it. He had noticed earlier that the girl could quite easily keep up with an intellectual conversation. He had also noticed how she had reacted when he had snapped at her to get something to eat. Her reaction wasn't uncommon; many students feared him and jumped like Miss Granger did when he shouted. However, whenever he had snapped at or degraded her in class she had regarded him with a straight face and cold eyes. So why did she act so fearful of him before? It was a mystery, and one that he was adamant he would get to the bottom of.

When he walked through the kitchen door, he observed Hermione from the back. She was slowly loading pots, pans and various cutlery into the sink. This came as a surprise to Snape. Doesn't she know that the house elves will clear them away? Then he smirked, probably something related to the liberation of house elves in her…second year was it?

"Miss Granger, why do you not leave the…. dirty work…. to the house elves?" He questioned, thoroughly expecting a SPEW related answer.

"Ohh, hello Professor, I didn't hear you enter. I just wanted to something to do, and work this menial is pleasantly mind numbing." Hermione's reply definitely surprised him; maybe she wasn't quite as childish as he thought.

Hermione took the dirty plate off her Potions Professor and turned back to the sink, slowly scrubbing away the bolognaise sauce that had left a ring of blood red on the sides of the dish. A silence fell between them, Hermione wasn't uncomfortable, and instead she felt reassured by Severus' presence.

"Would you like a cup of tea, Miss Granger?" The question caught her off guard, although she quickly composed herself.

"I would love one Sir. But let me make it." At this, Snape snorted.

"As much as you would like to try to wash up and set the kettle on the stove with only one set of hands, I don't actually think it is possible," Hermione laughed at this and turned to face him, smiling for the first time since she had entered his rooms.

"Thank you very much Professor, a drink would be much appreciated." He gave no reply; only turned towards the stove and filled an old, green kettle with water from the tip of his wand.

Hermione turned slightly to pick up the next fiendishly dirty item, and caught a glimpse of the kettle. Smiling in remembrance, she spoke again

"My Nana used to have a kettle just like that." Severus caught her nod in the direction of the kettle.

"Used to?" Was his only reply. Instantly he cursed himself, in this war he had lost track of the number of casualties, and as Harry Potter's best friend, Hermione's family would have been right in the firing line. For the first time in many years he felt guilt at any unintentional pain he caused someone. What the hell is happening to me? He often felt guilty for the horrific crimes he had to commit in the name of the Dark Lord. But to feel guilt about talking of someone's Grandmother, who may or may not be dead, was definitely a sign of weakness. Thankfully Hermione's answer washed away the unfamiliar feeling with her reply.

"Yes, before my Uncle bought her an electric one."

"Electric?" Snape said, trying out the new word. He was sure he had heard the muggle studies teacher talk about it to Arthur Weasley at an Order meeting.

"Yes. It's a source of energy Muggles use to power just about everything, from lights to televisions and now even cars."

Memories flashed back about the disastrous incident in Potter's second year. A Flying Ford Anglia, some things should just never be seen, and that was one of them. Although, he had struggled to suppress a smirk when he found out the whomping willow had nearly battered them to death. He knew nothing of these 'televisions' and decided to buy a book or two on muggle culture or technologies when he was next in Diagon Alley.

Glancing back at the girl, he noticed she was lifting her own plate, ready to wash it in the soapsuds and water. Staring at it, he realised that she definitely hadn't had spaghetti bolognaise for her meal. On the plate was what looked like bread and cheese crumbs, which was absolutely ridiculous as the only bread in his stores had been several weeks old, and the cheese was a hideously sickly experience the Headmaster had 'gifted' him with. This confused him, and he decided to investigate the matter later.

Once the tea was brewed, the unusual pair sat down on slightly rickety chairs at the kitchen table. No conversation passed between them, as they both starred into their cups of tea; perhaps believing that the answers to all their problems would be revealed by the muddy brown liquid. Unfortunately, neither believed in the art of 'Divination' and consequently the tealeaves in the bottom of the cup were nothing more than a gooey mess.

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Hermione was kneeling on the worn rug in the living room; sitting on her heels she poured her way through her belongings that had been delivered by two slightly ruffled looking in appearance house elves. She didn't have many clothes, just a few tatty pairs of jeans and baggy t-shirts, not that Hermione minded; her robes mainly covered her clothes anyway. Pushing the different materials aside, she started routing through the books that lay in the bottom of the trunk. The house elves had had to shrink them to fit them in, and now Hermione was struggling to read their tiny titles. She was looking for Hogwarts: A History, hoping that there would be something about the magical enlargement of the school throughout the last few thousand years. Professor Snape had made her intrigued when he talked about enlarging underground structures.

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From the doorway Severus observed Hermione rummaging through her scant belongings. She didn't seem to have many clothes or any other personal items. This, coupled with her dinner plate and the memories he had been forced to view when she was under the Dark Lord's torture, sent his mind whirling. Eventually his curiosity got the better of him, without a second thought he entered the girls mind and started skimming through her memories. Many were of the past few weeks: conversations with her 'friends' otherwise known as tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee; sitting in the great hall, playing with her food; lying in the hospital wing, staring up at the beamed ceiling and final memories of the dreadful night and the pains of the Cruciatus curse.

Withdrawing quickly from that particular memory, he focused on the memories in the further past, and was horrified at what he found. He knew she had been badly beaten as a child, but he didn't know the full extent of the abuse. He watched countless scenes of Hermione being forced to work long hours doing countless chores, being constantly punished for doing her work seemingly perfectly. He watched as he served her parents up fancy three course meals and served them constantly through the meal. She was beaten when her stomach rumbled from starvation and was sent to her bed without any nourishment. At one time she went without anything to eat in three days, and then collapsed from pure exhaustion.

The memories went on and on, a seemingly endless supply of child abuse and hatred. Severus was stunned, how had the girl behaved so normally in school, how did she just switch off to the memories, was this why she threw herself into her work with such gusto? To forget.

He wished he hadn't looked; he wished he hadn't seen what she had tried so hard to leave behind. Trying to put a look on his face that suggested some degree of normality he spoke out to the tortured soul.

"Miss Granger, we need to travel to Diagon Alley to obtain the ring I mentioned earlier."

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Thanks for reading this chapter, please review. They really keep me writing. Hope this cleared up the spaghetti incident thing a bit. More will be mentioned when HG and SS talk about it in future chapters.