Just thought I'd let you all know that I have a new SSxHG story, 'Breaking Barriers', the first chapter of which has been posted and which will be posted/updated alongside this one so I recommend you go check it out if you're enjoying Against Expectations! It might help to have two stories to keep you all going since my writing inspiration is so sporadic!
%%%
A quick check of the watch, a loud dismissal of her OWL class from their revision lesson and Hermione was finally allowed to slump in relief behind her desk, taking a swig from her bottle of water to swallow the pain killers she favoured over Madam Pomfrey's potion pescriptions.
Her month off had finally reached an end, this was her first Monday back, however due to the timing of her hospitalisation it was also the final Monday of the term. It meant the syllabus for all year groups had been completed in her absence, so naturally this entire week would just be answering queries or re-covering any particularly difficult material, nothing too difficult. This was probably fortunate, Hermione thought, as she took a deep breath and rubbed her temple absently with one finger. She'd started this morning full of energy and excited to get back to work but that had quickly drained, quite frankly she had been ready to collapse by lunch break.
Thankfully here she was, still alive at the end of the day, so she heaved herself out her chair and was slowly tidying her desk when a knock at the classroom door made her start.
"Come in!" Assuming it would be a panicking student with last minute questions, Hermione was a little taken aback when Neville appeared instead.
"Alright, 'Mione?" He grinned as he moved forward. "Thought I'd check in, see how your first day back was."
"Exhausting!" Hermione huffed. "I knew my stamina would be down from the bed rest, but I didn't realise it would be so substantial."
Neville frowned. "If you're that tired, maybe its best you head back to your rooms and I'll get the Elves to send you something from the kitchen?"
She shook her head, smiling in appreciation. "Don't worry, I think it's best to get back into routine. I'm just relieved there's no marking to do because the moment I'm back in my rooms, it's straight to the bedroom!"
The two laughed together as they left the Transfigurations classroom, chatting away like excitable students as they reached the Great Hall. Neville and Hermione continued up to the front of the room, each nodding to the occasional wave of students and her thanking a couple of second years who wished her well. Her good mood continued as the two settled into their seats and helped themselves to chicken pie whilst Neville began to tell her about his plans for starting a small crop of dittany in one of Professor Sprout's private greenhouse. However around fifteen minutes into the meal, her spirits were dampened by the arrival of the Potion's Master.
She had managed to avoid seeing him these past two weeks, still fuming and highly embarrassed at his rejection, even going so far as having breakfast in her rooms that morning and finishing lunch in around ten minutes flat. Now, as she watched him stride down the hall, black robes billowing behind him, Hermione had to question why she'd thought dinner would be any safer.
For some reason she couldn't stop staring, against her better judgement, and the man clearly noticed for a moment later his eyes were on her. She'd expected perhaps a hint of longing, some hint of apology or even pity to be reflected there, so she almost fell off her chair at the intensity of his own rage hitting her. This only served to increase her anger at him as her own features contorted with fury – why the hell was he angry with her?!
"Hermione?" Neville's meek voice drew her attention, but she clearly couldn't get rid of her dark expression quick enough for he flinched when she turned to him. "Are you… alright?"
"Fine."
The boy waited, as though expecting more, but when she gave no signs she would give it he continued his mindless chatter about Herbology, no doubt from nerves. Hermione meanwhile turned to glance down the table where Severus had now taken his seat, the famous scowl in place as always but somehow seeming more genuine than usual. She remained like this for the next twenty or so minutes, no longer tired as she nodded along to Neville's words, her sights firmly set on the older man as he aggressively poked and prodded at his food. By her count he only took a mouthful a minute before dropping his fork, grumbling a quick farewell to the Headmistress and briskly storming off. He was definitely in a worse mood than usual, that was clear, so it begged the question of wh she had the sudden urge to follow him. She really was too inquisitive for her own good.
"So you see, even though the first two years the plants will probably remain bare, it's the future production that-"
"Sorry, Neville," Hermione yawned dramatically as she crossed her cutlery neatly, one hand cupping slightly over her mouth. "I don't mean to be rude, but I can barely keep my eyes open. You'll have to catch me up on all this another time."
He just smiled in understanding. "Not a problem, I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Bright and early."
And with that she near enough jogged out the room.
%%%
It wasn't until the long corridor of the dungeons leading to his quarters that Hermione caught up to him.
"Stop!" She winced at how loud her voice sounded echoing off the stone walls, but when he turned and she saw he was still seething her confidence was renewed. "Why do you get to be mad?!"
He looked confused for a second, then walked toward her till they were about a metre apart and she could clearly see his thunderous expression. "Excuse me?"
The command of his low growl made her shiver, it was unfair she felt she had to shout whilst he could push so much venom into his words regardless of volume. "I'm the one who threw herself at a man, only to have him brush me off and send me to bed like a child! Yet you're storming about the place as though it's the other way round! So I'd like to know what gives you the right to do that."
Severus looked her up and down like a particularly disgusting flobberworm, sneering. "I was unaware all emotions now had to be put forward for your scrutiny, Granger."
"Don't do this," she sighed, hands covering her face in frustration. "I can't deal with your stupid little routines right now-"
"Then don't stalk me down to the dungeons and demand my attention." His harsh tone startled her. "Especially when you're only doing so for your own benefit."
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"You're only down here because you want an apology."
She raised her eyebrows at his audacity. "That's not true! Although I think, after the other week, I bloody deserve one."
"If you think I'm going to beg your forgiveness when I'm the one in the right, you're more of an imbecile than my first years." He paused. "Although if you can't understand I'm right then you're probably more on the level of a troll in intelligence." Before she had time to recover from the acidity with which he delivered the words, he'd charged off in the direction of his room leaving her as confused as she'd been before the exchange.
%%%
Having gone to bed early, Hermione found herself lying staring at the canopy of her bed when she'd woken at midnight. She was no longer tired and the still quiet of the castle gave her a dangerous opportunity to think.
She was still reeling from the hostility she'd received from Severus earlier that day. Surely he should've been apologising to her given she was the one who'd been humiliated and yet when she met his gaze he seemed just as angry with her as vice versa. There'd also been something else there too, more emotion she could spy beyond the veil of rage at the forefront and it was all causing her to reconsider the whole situation.
"Damn, he's a complicated bastard." She grumbled aloud. If there was one thing she thought she could be sure of, it was that there was no chance he would make the first move – if she wanted to become friends with the man again then she'd have to be the one to seek him out. However that had done her no favours today so she was at a loss of what to do other than leave things as they were.
But she missed him. She missed the sarcastic responses, the light-hearted jibes and the actual intelligent conversation that intermittently sprung up between them. More than that, she missed the emotional support he'd provided her since early in the academic year, the way he always seemed to have some sort of input worth hearing that cleared everything up for her. Even the physical absence of him – the pleasant, herbal scent that clung to him, the spark of light that ignited in his pupils when he was happy, the infamous smirk that he deemed worthy as a response to anything and occasionally blossomed into a full-blown grin which made her heart stutter.
How she'd managed to spend this long without him suddenly seemed an achievement to Hermione, given her shame at being turned down hadn't deterred her feelings for him. "Bugger."
%%%
The following morning she awoke with a headache (no doubt a result of her failure to solve her predicament) to the sound of persistent tapping, letting out a sigh of relief when it wasn't the dark feathers of the all too familiar eagle owl. However this was short-lived when she opened the window and the tawny owl dropped a letter with familiar writing into her hands.
"Harry…" She'd forgotten he'd be writing, but upon opening the parchment she found herself in a more forgiving mood. It was an invitation to a housewarming party that Saturday, the first of the Easter holidays, at his new London flat. Hermione was flattered but the very idea of having to engage in the festivities brought anxious butterflies to her stomach. She briefly considered outright rejecting the offer, scribbling her RSVP on the back of the invite and shooing the owl back to its sender, however she didn't have the heart to do so right now.
Hurriedly pulling on a clean set of robes, she decided to brave breakfast in the Great Hall – she probably owed Neville a proper chance to talk her ear off about dittany, no matter how awkward she felt in the company of certain other staff members – and was pleased to find he was seemingly unfazed by her sudden ditching the day before. They did the usual exchange of polite pleasantries and then she coaxed Neville back into his excitable Herbology babble, actually paying attention this time. His whole thought process in regards to growing conditions was actually quite intriguing, Hermione thought, certainly leaps and bounds beyond the standard of his work from school. The way his face lit up talking about it all was quite endearing.
"Hey, I meant to ask, did you get the invite to Harry's this weekend?" Neville's change of topic caught her off guard.
"Oh, uh – yeah I did, this morning. I'm not sure if I'll go though."
"Really? I mean, Ginny said she thought you'd want to give it a miss, but I figured she was misjudging things."
"You spoke to Ginny?"
Neville nodded. "Yeah, we became better friends at Hogwarts last year, what with leading the DA and all. Sometimes she comes out to the greenhouses to keep me company while I'm repotting or taking cuttings, menial stuff that doesn't need my full attention. Anyway, she said it'd be a shame if you didn't come but understandable." He looked to her out the corner of his eye. "But I told her you could do with getting out of the castle after all that rest time, you seemed pretty frustrated at being trapped here."
She shifted, anxious. "It isn't that I don't want to have some time away from Hogwarts. I'm just… Not entirely sure how welcome I'll be."
"You mean because Ron will be there." Her silence was enough of an answer. "Look, it's not his party, plus from the way Ginny was talking I reckon Harry will be made up if you came. Even if it's just for a couple of hours." Neville lightly nudged her, causing her to look up into his reassuring blue gaze. "I won't leave your side for a second and Ginny's already promised to crack out her bat bogey hex if Ron kicks off."
She didn't need him to tell her, she could see from his expression that her friends were worried about her. What's more, with Ginny onside there was absolutely no way she'd be allowed to turn down this invitation no matter how uncomfortable it might turn out to be. She'd just have to hope Neville could keep to his expectations to 'a couple of hours' at most.
"Fine. I'm in."
%%%
I'm not 100% happy with this chapter, but I know where I'm going with this story (I think) and it's better than my intial draft, if I fiddle with it for too long I'll never get it posted so voila! I'm sorry to keep you all waiting this long, I really struggled with inspiration for a lot of other stuff and literally no motivation to continue this but, as I always say, I never abandon if I can help it. I know not much action in this chapter, it's more of a setup for things to get going again.
As I said at the beginning, please do check out my other SSxHG story that's now up (or any of my HP stuff if you like my writing style, I have a few shorter pieces popping up every now and then) if you're interested.
Reviews make my day, follows and favourites, even just reads are appreciated! Much love to you all :)