Hermione did not see or hear from Severus Snape until Bill's wedding. Her coin warmed in her pocket.
Leave! Go somewhere safe!
Before she could write back and question him, a second message came through: Now!
Rushing back into the party, she saw a Patronus disappear over the dance floor, and panic flooded over the party guests. People were disapparating left and right. Hermione struggles through the crowd and reached Ron. Ron grabbed her hand.
"Harry!" She called out to her black haired friend.
Harry looked at Ginny, who was protected by both Fred and George, and grabbed Hermione and Ron's clasped hands.
She disapparated the trio to Tottenham Court Road, and then quickly to Grimmauld Place. As the boys changed in a separate room, Hermione checked her coin. It had burned several times as they moved through Tottenham Court Road.
Granger, where are you?
He sounded impatient even via a coin.
12 Grimmauld Place.
Weasley and Potter?
With me.
Safe?
Yes.
He didn't write back. She massaged the coin with her thumb. Never in her life did she think Severus Snape would be so concerned for her whereabouts and wellbeing, but he had messaged her, more than once, to check on her and her friends.
Then, Hermione thought he wasn't really messaging her because he cared about her as a student or a mentee. He was messaging her to ask about Harry because of whatever relationship he'd had with Harry's mother. Looking through their supplies, Hermione sighed and realized they would need far more than this if they were to go it on foot. Frowning, she moved to speak with the boys.
"I need more supplies for potions and salves before we set out from here."
"We can buy some," Harry suggested and stuck his hand in his pocket to fish out some money.
"No," Hermione said firmly. "It's too risky. Any shop in our world will have posters with our faces plastered all over them. I'll go to Hogwarts and use the Potions storage closet."
"Steal from Snape?" Ron gasped. "Hermione..."
"I've stolen from Professor Snape loads of times," She shrugged with indifference.
"This is different. He's not just a Potions teacher now. He's Headmaster. Nobody except You-Know-Who checks him now, and I can't imagine there'd be much checking where we're involved," Ron said and swallowed loudly.
"Ron's right. It's too risky."
"Look, we need supplies, and I know that closet has what we need. If we're going to be traveling around on foot, we'll need far more than what we've got. I'll be fine. It's late anyway. Anyone there is bound to be asleep. There are no students yet. I've done it loads of times. I'll use your cloak, Harry."
Harry and Ron looked at each other. Knowing that Hermione wouldn't suggest something so risky unless absolutely necessary, they nodded in agreement.
"I need to use the loo first. Write down any extra ingredients or potion requests. I'll see if I can find them," She said and disappeared upstairs.
Pulling the coin from her pocket, she scratched: Need supplies.
His response was nearly immediate. He must be restless and bored trapped in the castle all by himself with seemingly no allies.
Headmaster's Floo open.
After washing her hands, Hermione headed back downstairs. She grabbed the list from Ron and the cloak from Harry.
"Be careful, Hermione," Harry said and hugged her quickly.
Pressing a very quick kiss to her forehead, Ron said, "Any trouble and you come straight back."
She smiled at the pair and stepped into the Floo. Knowing in her heart where her destination was was powerful enough, and she appeared in the Headmaster's Office.
As she stepped out from the floo, she realized Snape had changed nothing about the office. It still looked exactly as it had. If not for the darkly clad man sitting behind the desk, Hermione could've sworn Dumbledore were still alive. Snape stood.She looked him over quickly. He was even thinner and looked quite sickly and overtired. Truthfully, he looked terrible.
"Miss Granger," He said lowly.
"Professor Snape. How are you?"
"We've no time for small talk. Put on that cloak and I will take you to the closet." Something flickered over his face told Hermione he avoided her question because he was so unwell that discussing his stability was dangerous to him.
She obeyed him silently and followed him down the long corridors. She missed this school already, and she could already feel the changes in the magical atmosphere. It seemed so much more dark and drear, despite the beautiful summer night outside.
They were unbothered the entire way to the closet and arrived quite quickly. Once inside, Snape warded the first door behind him. He waited while Hermione passed into the second secret storage on her. After several minutes, she reappeared before him.
"Did you pack plenty of extra supplies?" He asked.
"Yes, sir."
"Cloak," He said curtly.
She pulled the cloak around her once more and followed him back to the office. As they turned a corner, Snape stopped abruptly and Hermione nearly slammed into him. Peering around his arm, she saw a rather terrifying looking man standing across from Snape.
"Amycus," Severus drawled.
"Headmaster," The man greeted. "Is something amiss?"
"The Headmaster can choose to patrol any corridor at any time."
"Yet you always choose to patrol when I am supposed to be patrolling," Alecto growled.
"You sound guilty. Have you been doing something wrong?"
"No," He said. "It's just quite boring without any students to punish here."
"Indeed," Severus said. "Soon enough they will drive. Good evening."
"Evening, Headmaster," The creepy looking man said.
Severus took a small steadying breath as the man passed the pair of them, and then continued walking quickly toward his office. Once there, Hermione pulled the cloak off of her.
"You mustn't make a habit of this. Especially once students return. The unsavory staff members I was forced to bring on will wander the halls nearly constantly then."
"Who was that?"
"Amycus Carrow. He is a Death Eater. He, along with his sister, Alecto, will be teaching here come September."
"Death Eaters... But they... Won't they hurt students..."
Snape looked away from her. "Many students are not returning. Muggleborn students have been denied enrollment."
"But the ones who come..."
"I can not control it entirely. I can only control the extent of it," He said softly.
Silencing the room to any nosey listeners, Hermione yelled, "They will harm the students! My friends!"
He still avoided her gaze. "I have to walk the line, Miss Granger. I cannot appear weak or sympathetic. I will do what I can, I assure you."
Hermione stopped herself from laying into him when she noticed how truly unwell he looked. There were black circles under his eyes, and he has a small shadow of stubble across his face. Normally, Snape was clean shaven. His hair was longer than she'd ever seen it, and unkempt.
"Are you okay, sir?"
"No," He breathed unevenly.
"I'm sorry, sir. We can find another way. We can get you out of here. We can get you out of this. I'm sure of it. Professor McGonagall and I can fix it."
"Sentimental Gryffindor," He mumbled. "There is no other way. Maybe, once, a long time ago, there was another way for me, but not anymore."
It was a rare moment of transparency for him. Summoning all of her courage, she asked, "Did that other way have something to do with Lily Potter?"
Snape froze completely for a moment. He didn't even seem to be breathing. He turned slowly to face her. His head was cocked slightly to one side. "What did you say?" He asked dangerously. He took a step toward her.
It took all of her might to not retreat from him. "I know about Lily."
His top lip twitched menacingly. "Pray tell: what do you think you know?"
"Harry told us that Professor Trelawney told him you were the one who overheard the prophecy about Harry, and that you were the one who relayed it to You-Know-Who."
He took a step back from her, as if her statement had physically wounded him. His face paled even more and a slightly greenish tint colored his cheeks. His mouth was open a bit.
"When he told us that, I started putting things together. Your storage closet password. Some of things you've said in our lessons. The torn picture I found in Sirius' bedroom after you went through it. The torn letter. The way you act toward Harry."
"And what is your conclusion?" He asked softly. Never in so many years had he ever felt so exposed.
"That you would have never relayed that prophecy if you knew it meant Lily's son. That you never meant to put her in danger. You must have been at least friends, or maybe you even loved her," She said and he flinched horribly. "But something happened, and you didn't know she had a child. Maybe it's just that they were in hiding. Maybe you didn't speak anymore. Maybe it's because of that memory Harry saw in the Pensieve and that I saw in his mind," He flinched again and looked as if he were about to vomit. "After you relayed the prophecy that ended up with her sacrificing herself to save her son, you must've switched sides. Whatever the details, that feels like the gist."
Her words hung between them. He backed against his desk and massaged his temples with his hands. He could feel her eyes on him, but he wasn't ready just yet to look at her. The room felt like it was spinning around him, and he was doing his very best not to vomit. His breaths came in quick and jagged heaves. Suddenly, he heard her shuffling a bit, and then heard her footsteps approaching him.
"Professor?" She asked softly. He opened his eyes and saw she was offering him a Calming Draught.
"You will need that."
"You need it now, sir. Take it," She said.
He couldn't refuse his need for it, and quickly swallowed the potion in one go. As the potion worked on fried nerves, he looked up at her.
"Are you planning to tell anyone what you've deduced?" The question was laced with acid, but she heard the underlying anxiety.
"No, sir. Of course not," She shook her head emphatically.
He pushed off the desk and moved toward the window. Staring out at the grounds, he said, "You must return to Potter and Weasley."
"Can I ask questions?" She asked.
"No," He said firmly.
She sighed. He was trembling still. "Just yes or no questions?"
"Granger..." He warned. If he did survive the war, she and McGonagall would be his best chance to stay out of Azkaban. He knew this, but it still grinded his gears and felt like a massive betrayal to the private man that he was. "You get three - yes or no only."
"Did you know Lily and James Potter were to have a son at the end of that July when you relayed the prophecy?"
"No," He breathed.
"If you had known, would you have relayed it still?"
"No," He said more firmly. "No."
"Did you love her?"
He shuddered. "Granger... Careful. We are not friends. This is not a school girl chat." He tried to make his voice dangerous but he was too vulnerable for it to be successful.
"She didn't forgive you. Did she? After you used that word."
He turned on her angrily. "You asked three questions. You don't get anymore." Hermione flinched at the anger behind his words. "Leave, girl. And don't come back until you're ready for all out war."
"Professor, I'm sorry I upset you. I meant no disrespect."
"What difference does intent make at this point? I've asked for you to keep your distance, yet you've repeatedly refused to respect that. That, by definition, is disrespect," He growled.
"Professor Dumbledore asked me to help you."
"Help me relay information to Potter. Not pry into my personal life," Snape spit. "How many times do I have to tell you that we are not friends?"
Hermione's feathers were ruffled. She couldn't deny what he was saying was true, but that didn't mean she had to like it.
Digging in her pocket, she pulled out her coin, walked over to his desk, and slammed it on top of it. "Then go it alone," She spit and walked back into the Floo.
His eyes narrowed at his desk. Realizing what she'd done, he called out, "Granger!"
It was no use. She disappeared into green flames. She was gone. She'd left the only safe way of communication with the trio behind. He wouldn't be able to communicate to them if he needed to. Though she had pushed his limits of privacy, he'd pushed her away too hard. He was alone. Again.
"I'd found out that if you pushed people away hard enough, they tended to go." ~ Amy Rodger's Epic Detour