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Snape had never hugged anyone besides Lily… and even then it was never consensual… he had rocked her in his arms the night she had been murdered. It was so different for him to feel the warmth of the girl he was holding and to feel her holding him back. He looked down at the young witch in his arms and saw her looking almost content. Her arm was still grasping tightly around him while the other free one was fingering the buttons on his coat. Hermione seemed happy to be in his embrace. Snape realized he had never fully comprehended that her attraction to him was anything more than a small fancy or a cruel joke. But there she was, comfortable and blissful in his arms. It was as if Hermione just wanted to never let go… just relax and stay protected, away from the evil creatures that had been terrorizing them… and he could actually say he enjoyed the embrace, however foreign it may have felt to him. After all those years of watching students fall in love with classmates, he was finally living it… finally holding someone close who appeared to want his touch… only his touch.
When he saw Hermione close her eyes and nuzzle deeper into his chest, he seemed to be woken up from his dreaming, "Miss Granger," his voice broke… not having spoken for quite awhile, "We should be heading back. It's dangerous to stay here."
Hermione opened her eyes and looked up at him, realizing that she was cuddling with her teacher. She blushed and sat up, reluctantly unwrapping her arm around his back. He probably was not happy with her boldness,
"You're right, sorry," she whispered, "Oh!" she remembered something and pulled out a muddy looking object from her cloak, "I managed to get a horn during the stampede…"
Snape was stunned, "You truly are the most irresponsible and insolent witch of your age, aren't you?" he admonished her while snatching it out of her grasp. She didn't care as she nestled back into his chest, not liking to be away from him in the cold… he was so warm… she felt so comfortable and safe with him. Hermione suddenly felt the bitter cold meet her body when Snape pulled away from her, seeming upset at her. She winced in pain from the sudden movement, she had forgotten about her wounds.
Snape was right by her side once more, "Where are you hurt?" he haphazardly threw the horn in the small bag, trying to attend to her.
Hermione gave a small smile at her concerned professor, "My right ankle… other than that I just have cuts here and there… you saved me before they did anything worse."
He moved down to her feet and set them in his lap, "I need to take your boot off if I am to assess the damage," he looked back up at her, "This may hurt."
Hermione nodded as he unzipped her right boot and lightly tugged when he heard a hiss in pain from the young witch before him, "Sorry," she sighed, frustrated with herself for being such a baby in front of the man that saved her life.
Shaking his head, he appeared sympathetic to her while staring down at her covered ankle, "It's my fault you are hurt. Don't apologize."
She smiled and tugged on his sleeve and shifted closer to him, "Can I hold onto your arm? It helps to lessen the pain for me… you can just quickly pull it off so it will be over with…"
He nodded and motioned for her to come closer, "I need both hands to do this swiftly," he grabbed one of her hands and wrapped it around his waist and Hermione followed him with her other arm, glad to be near his warmth again,
"This will hurt." He breathed out in his almost monotone voice, unaffected by her touch this time… he was too concerned about her ankle.
Snape quickly jerked and pulled the boot off to reveal a swollen ankle while Hermione squeezed his torso, tight enough for him to hardly breathe, but he ignored it as he pulled up her jeans to have more access. He heard a whimper of disapproval and felt a hard squeeze when he touched the swollen limb, "Your ankle is broken." He stated, matter-of-factly.
Hermione sighed, "Great—wait where are you going?" she protested, seeing him take off his thick cloak, fold it up, and set her feet on it to rest while he stood up.
"I do not feel comfortable mending bones with a wand that does not belong to me. It's too risky." He picked Hermione's wand up and started walking towards the fire.
She huffed and called out after him, "So that massive spell that you just cast to get rid of all the zombies wasn't risky?"
He didn't reply as he wandered around the fire, farther away from her. Once he was out of sight she heard him call out, "Accio wand!" She started to get a little nervous, having been left alone… she tried to start letting her mind wander… Hermione had forgotten all about his lost wand… everything had been such a blur. She realized that there was a great chance that it had been caught in the fire.
Seeing Snape come back into view relaxed her as she watched the way he carried himself very proudly while limping… even though she knew he must be feeling awful about her getting hurt, he must have been aching badly as well. She could see blood stains on different parts of his clothing and realized, looking at her own attire, that she had his blood all over her.
"You're hurt! Why are you doing this for me when you are much worse off than I am?" she scolded him when he tenderly knelt down while flinching from his wounds to attend to her own.
He gingerly placed Hermione's ankle into his lap and pointed his wand at it, "Episkey." He said quietly.
"Ow!" she jerked, glaring at him, "That burns!" Hermione bit her lip to ease the pain but was soon stopped by Professor Snape who grabbed her chin forcefully and scolded her,
"Stop that or I will have to heal even more wounds tonight!" he snapped. She obeyed and grabbed his hand for comfort.
Her ankle soon turned cold and she looked at him incredulously, "What did you do now?"
He rolled his eyes, back to his old self once more, "The spell is mending your ankle, the heat and cold is to distract you and numb you from the pain of the bone that is healing."
She blushed at her pitiful weakness to pain as he grabbed her arm that was holding tight to his hand, he pulled up her sleeve to reveal minor bite marks and wordlessly healed it. He quickly took care of other small wounds before returning back to her ankle, he pointed his wand at it again after feeling the warmth that had gone back into the swollen joint, "Ferula!"
Hermione watched as bandages and a splint quickly formed around her lower leg. He sighed, not seeming to be quite content with what he had done but looked up at her, "You will need to see Madame Pomfrey when we get back to the castle. She will be able to properly set it. My spells aren't nearly enough to heal your ankle… it was very badly broken. I can't let you walk on it."
She shook her head, "Professor, what about you?" she pointed to all the blood stains on him.
He must have just barely remembered that he was hurt too for Hermione saw the quick look of confusion before a moment of comprehension, "Vulnera—"
"Let me do it, Sir… it is much more complicated to heal one's self than to have someone else do it for you," she grabbed her wand and pointed it at his wounds, "Vulnera Sanentur…" she chanted this over and over again, finding new cuts or wounds on her professor.
Snape was astounded at her readiness to help him. She was so much more than he realized. His student was truly not the young girl he had knew anymore… she was a woman who seemed to be falling for him… him! The bat of the dungeons, the cranky old Potions teacher who had made her life a living hell! Why was she attracted to him? Why did she like him? Why did she want to hug him and touch him? He was so confused at her generosity. The only person who had showed him the littlest bit of kindness had been Lily… and he could only watch her leave him for James Potter… Hermione had the Weasley boy… her affection couldn't have been anymore than pity and kindness… Yet there she was, tenderly and sweetly uncovering many of his wounds and healing them with her sweet whispers. Why did she care about an old, cranky man like him?
Hermione smiled at her handiwork, she would have made a great healer. She glanced up to see Snape staring at her in shock… it appeared to her that not many people had cared for him so diligently. Hermione wondered if Lily had taken care of him when they were friends…
He shook himself out of it and stood up, wiping snow off of his thin robe. He bent back down on one knee and tentatively removed the cloak underneath Hermione's feet to wrap around her not before shaking off any excess frost that had been picked up from it. He draped it around her shoulders and folded it over her, covering her body, "You need to be warm, I don't want you getting sick again," he explained.
To say she was shocked was an understatement when she felt Snape slide his hands underneath her and pick her up in his arms, "Put me down! You shouldn't be carrying me! You're still hurt!" she demanded, concerned about him.
He ignored her, "I need to get you back to the castle, you are my responsibility."
She huffed, seeming bolder, upset, "Is that all I am?"
Again, there was more proof staring him in the face of her desperate concern for him… a concern he had never seen from anyone before. And then there she was… wanting to hear him tell her that she was more to him than just a problem or a student to protect. But did she really mean anything more to him? He just couldn't understand what she saw in him… what did she want from him? Could she really want his affection in return? Was she expecting it? He looked down at the witch in his arms with surprise written all over his face, but he changed the subject quickly,
"How powerful is your patronus?"
Hermione cocked her head, confused and upset that he wouldn't answer her previous question, "Um… average. Why?"
"Wrap your arms around my neck," he commanded her so he could have a free hand. She did so without question while he still supported her legs and took out his the ebony wand, "Expecto Patronum!" he pointed in front of them and a glowing doe appeared before them.
"That's the patronus Harry saw when he found the sword of Gryffindor…" she looked up at him shocked… Harry had failed to mention that detail to her, "It was you!"
The doe seemed to be waiting for him to start walking again and as soon as he did, the patronus took the lead, lighting the way and protecting them. Snape remained quiet for quite a long time. He was grateful that the clearing of the Dying Pine was quite close to the edge of the forest. He hoped that nothing else would disturb their journey back to the castle. Hermione had done a fair job on his wounds but he knew it was not enough to heal all of them as he found how sore he was every time he took a step and carried her in his arms. However light she was, it still caused him pain… just standing caused him to ache but he was not going to call for help… she was his responsibility and he wouldn't be rescued when he was still able to walk. He figured that must have been the stubborn side of him coming back out again. For the time that he had held Hermione so close to him in the snow, back near the fire, it seemed every typical emotion that he had always displayed had vanished and been replaced with compassion and a protectiveness that he had never experienced before. Not even with Lily.
Hermione had fallen asleep in his arms by the time Snape had finally made it out of the forest with her. He couldn't bear to wake her as he walked into the courtyard while his limp was growing worse. Snape saw Filch, the caretaker, walking down one of the hallways from the courtyard and sent his patronus to retrieve the grumpy old man. He had always seemed fond of Snape because of their shared interest in punishing students and had grown to be somewhat of a friend to him… hardly that… but they were on good terms with each other. Filch came waddling out in his awkward run to find Snape covered in dried blood while holding Hermione carefully in his arms.
"Professor Snape!" he called but was interrupted.
"Wake up Poppy and tell her to prepare a bed for Miss Granger."
The frumpy man nodded and turned around in the other direction to run to the hospital wing. Snape dismissed the patronus and quickened his pace. If the ministry found out about this incident, they were both going to be sacked for sure… and worse… if that Skeeter woman ever found out… Snape almost shuddered to think about the horrible consequences they would face. Hermione started to stir when his pace sped up,
"Professor?" she looked up, disoriented from her sleep.
He looked down at her, "We are back in the castle and I'm taking you to the Hospital wing."
She nodded, almost wanting their journey to be longer so she could stay in his arms. Hermione knew she was being extremely selfish thinking that, "Thank you, Sir."
Poppy let out a shuddered gasp when she saw Snape limping in with Hermione, "What happened? Severus!"
He set Hermione down in the prepared bed, "Her ankle was broken and I was able to mend it somewhat but not enough to heal it thoroughly. We were on business matters for the ministry and had to collect some ingredients from the forest when a group of Voldemort's Inferi attacked."
"Oh dear…" she said as she listened to Snape while retrieving a potion from her medicine closet.
Hermione propped herself up against her pillows and looked shyly at her Professor… he had done so much for her. She never would have imagined that she would ever be in such a situation with Snape. She blushed, recalling their long embrace after the fire… would that ever happen again? Hermione was called out of her thoughts when Madame Pomfrey sat on the edge of her bed,
"Drink this, dear; this is will fix your ankle in a jiffy." She smiled sympathetically towards her. It seemed she was always taking care of the young witch constantly.
Hermione obeyed and swallowed the portion given to her. It was awful but she tried to not make a terrible looking face, remembering that Snape was still watching her. Madame Pomfrey turned away from her and inspected the Potions Master,
"You look terrible, Severus. Much worse than Miss Granger… sit down," she motioned towards the edge of Hermione's bed and he did so hesitantly, "Let me go get a few draughts that I know will help you."
He sighed, not appreciating the help but ran a dirty hand through his hair. Hermione watched the man before her, so many feelings were coursing through her… admiration, gratefulness, embarrassment, sympathy, love—Hermione couldn't believe herself… love? Did she just admit to herself that she loved him? She blushed hard, what on earth was going on with her? She was falling in love with her Potions Teacher… a man at least twenty years her senior…
"Apparently the Inferi broke your skin… you're covered in blood, Severus. Do you feel dizzy?" She felt his forehead quickly while handing him what looked to be an antidote. He popped off the cork and quickly swallowed before answering,
"I'm fine, Poppy. I'm more worried about Miss Granger." He mumbled as he glanced back at his student. Her face was bright red and she was staring at her hands in her lap… what was she thinking of? She appeared to be quite embarrassed but he chose not to comment. He stood up and turned towards Hermione,
"I would appreciate it you stayed overnight here." He said softly, "For my sake."
She looked up at him, "Yes, Sir. Shouldn't you be staying too?"
He raised an eyebrow, "I'm not the one who can't walk, Miss Granger. Feel better, good night." He quickly turned and started walking towards the door.
Hermione called out to him, "Wait!" she wanted him to stay with her… she didn't want to be alone… without him.
He glanced over his shoulder, stopping, "Yes, Miss Granger?"
She blushed, how could she ask him to just stay the night with her? He would probably refuse anyways; she shook her head, "Oh never mind… Good night Professor."
He frowned and resumed his slow limp out the door.
The next morning, Hermione woke up to find Professor McGonagall sitting beside her bed with Cho. She rubbed her tired eyes and smiled at them, "Good Morning, Professor."
McGonagall did not smile back, "Miss Granger, how are you feeling? Severus told me what happened… I shudder to think what would have happened if he had not been there!"
Hermione shook her head and sat up, feeling much better than she had the night before, whatever she drank had certainly fixed the pain in her ankle and the swelling had gone down. She remembered dressing down into a night gown when Madame Pomfrey had given her a sleeping draught and a small dose of the pepper-up potion. She assumed that was why she was feeling so much better, "I am fine! Madame Pomfrey said I could leave this morning."
Cho frowned at her new-found friend, "You should rest."
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Will you two cheer up? I'm not dead!" she laughed.
McGonagall huffed but gave a small smile at Hermione's words, "You gave me quite a scare…"
Hermione saw a bouquet of wild daisies and a smaller bouquet of Lily of the valley beside her, "Who are these from? They are lovely."
"I believe the wild flowers are from Mr. Weasley. He sent an owl requesting an audience with you and sent these with it."
Hermione frowned… she wanted to see Professor Snape… "And these?" she pointed to the tiny flowers bunched up in a small antique vase.
"Professor Snape asked me to give those to you this morning at breakfast," Cho answered, "He looked very worried about you."
Hermione blushed but smiled happily as she got out of bed, grabbing the heavy cloak that she had wrapped herself in to go to sleep with. The headmistress looked shocked, "Miss Granger I would appreciate it if you rested for just a little longer…"
She shook her head as Hermione quickly walked out of the hospital wing. Snape had sent her flowers! Hermione was ecstatic… what did that mean? Was he starting to feel something for her? She couldn't be sure but was hoping it was so as she made her way to her quarters to change out of her night gown and into a comfy pair of clothes. She opened her door and set the cloak down softly on her couch as she walked into her room. She took a shower, and then changed into some leggings and an oversized sweater. She had to look perfect for Snape… Hermione braided her hair to the side after drying it and put some blush on her cheeks before deeming herself ready to go meet the man that she finally could say she honestly loved.
Hermione entered the classroom to see Snape standing over a large cauldron… he was making the polyjuice potion, "Professor?"
He almost jumped, he looked nervous as he turned to see her standing in the doorway. She smiled wide and walked to him quickly, wrapping him in a hug. He was just as she remembered… warm and welcoming… she couldn't believe how happy she was… just a few years ago she would never have thought twice about even touching him. Hermione felt him stiffen and looked up to see an unreadable expression on his face. He roughly unlatched her arms from his body and turned back to his potion. Hermione was hurt… hadn't he sent her flowers? Hadn't he carried her all night to the castle? Hadn't he hugged her to him for dear life?
"Sir…" she stumbled, "What's wrong?"
Snape whipped his head back around to stare at her, "Remember your place. I am your teacher, Miss Granger. Not your friend. I cannot have you treat me so casually!" he snapped at her.
Hermione took a step back, she knew he was right… but she had hoped that something had changed, she wanted it desperately to change… she wanted him to hold her again like the night before, "I…"
"What happened last night after the attack was a mistake. I must ask you not to speak of it to anyone." He turned back to the potion, stirring the lacewing flies.
"A mistake?" Hermione choked out quietly.
He remained silent as she stood next to him. He had to hurt her… he had to distance her away from him before it was too late… he couldn't let anything come between them and her apprenticeship. Going any further… continuing the feelings they had shown the night before would result in nothing but catastrophe for the both of them… he couldn't let her get any closer.
"Please, Miss Granger." He asked her politely and very quietly.
"You called me Hermione last night!" she spat at him.
He looked at her and narrowed his eyes, putting down the stirring rod, "It was out of desperation to get your attention! Do not think it was anything more! I am a teacher and you are a student… I suggest you start acting like one!"
Hermione's eyes widened in astonishment… she had gone two steps forward with him and now ten steps back… their mutual friendship seemed to have turned into a mere acknowledgment of the other's existence. She had to force back tears, not wanting to cry in front of him. She clenched her fists tightly,
"How dare you!" she angrily walked out of the classroom and slammed the door behind her, retreating back to her own room.
Hermione grabbed the cloak off her couch once she had shut the door and pulled it to her as she cuddled up into a ball, crying into the material… the only thing she had left of the man the night before. She finally was able to admit her true feelings to herself and Snape, the man she now loved, wanted nothing to do with her. He was her teacher and she was his student. Period. She wrapped the cloak around her and smelled the fading scent of her Potions Master in the fabric. Why couldn't anything turn out right? She sobbed for what seemed like hours when there was a knock at the door. She paused, quieting her cries as she wiped her tears… was it Snape? She quickly stood up and brushed her clothing down while smearing off the smudged makeup. She sniffed and composed herself and opened the door.
Hermione was instantly met with an urgent warm embrace, wrapped up in the man who so urgently had pulled her into his arms. She started crying again as she let him hold her close.
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