Author's note:
Yes, I was gone for almost three weeks.
No, this work will not be abandoned.
As I mentioned before, I have this story basically finished in my head and many chapters ready to be posted. However, a very annoying thing happened to me regarding this fanfic and I needed some time away from posting chapters to reorganize my thoughts and intentions regarding it. I'm not going to talk about it now, maybe I will do so in the future when I'm fully settled with the matter.
Although I know that I had a completely reasonable reason to be gone, I still feel the need to apologize. I will do what I can to prevent it from happening again. I hope you enjoy the chapter!
"Valerie!" - Dumbledore called to her, approaching the Gryffindor table.
"Headmaster." - the girl greeted.
"Care to join me for a walk?" - he asked innocently.
"Most certainly." - Valerie replied gathering some cards spread on the table and closing a box with a device that he did not recognize.
"How are you adapting to school?" - Dumbledore asked as they passed through the doors to the main hall.
"It's like travelling through a bumpy road. But I think it's better than just staying still." - Valerie shrugged.
"It is an interesting approach that you take." - he observed. "Teachers in general have been quite emphatic in praising your person. Aside from the incident with Professor Snape because of the uniform, they all seem quite happy with your academic performance."
"I'm sure they only do it because of my situation. I am the worst in my class at everything."
"Horace tells me differently. You have shown a natural aptitude for potions." - he gave her an enigmatic smile. "Pop rocks!"
The gargoyle guarding the door to Dumbledore's office spun, giving way to a spiral staircase. He motioned for her to take the lead.
"I loved the candy, thanks for thinking about me." - he said as they went up to the circular room.
As soon as the door closed behind them and Dumbledore indicated a chair for Valerie to sit on, the girl spoke at once:
"Is everything all right? Did something happen to... Him?"
"Ah! I'm sorry if I made it appear that the reason for our conversation was something of serious nature." - he apologized. "I have no news from Severus, which I think indicates that everything is fine."
Valerie seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
"Is that a gift from him?" - Dumbledore asked indicating the box that now rested on the girl's lap, under a pile of cards.
"Yes." - she replied. "It's a discman. A device for playing music." - she added in answer to his confused expression. "I had asked for one for my birthday, so I think he was keeping it since he couldn't deliver it on the date because I was at The Burrow. It won't work here at Hogwarts, according to the card he put in the box, but just the fact that he remembered it... It's enough for me."
"Severus approached me a few weeks ago asking for... Help, so to speak." - Dumbledore got up and went over to a small table beside his desk. "Tea?"
She nodded.
"I asked for his permission to speak with you privately on the matter. I don't want you to feel ambushed, but I figured it would be better to talk directly instead of using Severus as a mediator." - Dumbledore held out one of the cups to her and, holding the other, resumed his seat in the chair opposite Valerie. The girl looked confused.
"Severus told me about your... About you and Miss Lovegood."
"Headmaster?" - she asked with an expression that indicated that she had no idea what he was talking about. She might look like Cecilia, but the attitude of trying to hide the truth was entirely Snape's. She was good.
"Severus approached me asking for help in dealing with the situation. You see, he cares about you and doesn't want you to feel rejected by him. And the reason he approached me with these questions is that, well... I'm also a homosexual." - and having said that he raised the cup to his lips.
The expression on the girl's face changed slightly from monotony to mild surprise. Still, she said nothing.
"I just wanted to talk to you in private so that you know you're not alone. Like us, there are other wizards and witches who are not exactly in accordance with the general normativity of society and there is nothing wrong with that. I am an old man and in my day none of this was well accepted and even less, supported. My luck is that I was born a man, I didn't have to force myself into an unhappy marriage with a woman to prove anything to anyone. If I were a woman however... I met one or two witches who lived their entire lives in an unhappy relationship because they could not live as they felt comfortable. We are about to enter the third millennium and you are a lucky girl to have been born at this time."
"Yeah, right." - Valerie scoffed.
Dumbledore squinted at her in confusion. He did not intend to predict her reaction to this conversation but this was, by far, something he did not expect.
"I just think it's kind of ridiculous," - she justified herself – "that you of all people come and talk to me about how lucky I was to be born at the time I was born." - and it was her turn to sip the tea.
"I'm really sorry that you resent this. But it's not up to me to apologize, I did what I could to have you living as close to a normal life as possible."
"Do you really believe that? The way in which both my father and mother always told me about you... The image of a saint they tried to paint never crossed my mind." Valerie crossed her legs and one of her feet swayed nervously.
"Do you hate me for employing your father at Hogwarts? Do you feel like I took him from you by bringing him back to the UK?" - Dumbledore finished his cup of tea and folded his hands on his lap.
Valerie laughed.
"So, is this how you convince people? Posing as a therapist?" - Valerie smiled. "I don't hate you. I am afraid of you."
Dumbledore seemed genuinely intrigued by the statement.
"I assure you; I have no intention of hurting you, Valerie. I honestly called you here today to welcome you, offer you a friendly shoulder, to be a person you can turn to if you need help..."
"I'm not afraid of what you can do for me. I'm afraid of what you might ask of my father. I feel that if you say it is extremely important that he jump off a cliff he will do it without a second thought." - Valerie accused him.
"Severus has always been aware of the consequences that come with the role he plays in the Order of the Phoenix. And just recently we talked about it and he made sure that you will be under all possible protections in case he falls." - Dumbledore declared slightly offended.
"So just as I thought, he's just a pawn on your game?" - Valerie placed the empty cup on the table and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Maybe something more like a knight." - Dumbledore admitted.
"And Harry is the king, I suppose?"
Dumbledore was not fooled by the question. Valerie was a smart girl, just as her mother had once been and her father still was. She knew the answer, but she wanted to hear it from him. He, however, would not profess the words until he was in dire need.
"Unbelievable." - Valerie whispered in exasperation at the Headmaster's silence. "Does anyone know about this, besides you?"
Again, he did not answer. Dumbledore did not take her to his office to discuss this and he did not like not having the lead, even in the smallest of situations. Valerie got up from the chair and headed for the door.
"When Voldemort came back and you 'asked' " - Valerie emphasized the word – "my father to go back to him with a regretful speech, he tortured him to the verge of death, and you knew that was going to happen. Don't get me wrong, Headmaster. But I will never forget that."
Hermione woke up startled by the weight of Snape's arm on her belly. The room was dimly lit in a bluish tint from the window beside the bed. Of course. The window beside the bed. They were in the cottage.
For a brief moment she imagined falling asleep on his bed at Hogwarts and that she would have to run back to Gryffindor Tower. Fortunately, that was not the case, and she quickly fell asleep again. When she really woke up, the cottage was already lit by the warm sunlight and a strong coffee smell was spreading through the room. Snape was nowhere to be seen so she lazily stretched out on the bed before finally getting up.
She went into the kitchen and started turning some slices of bread into toast when she realized that Crookshanks was nowhere to be found either. Almost instantly the door opened and Snape stepped inside, an empty cup in his hands and his hooked nose reddened by the cold.
"Morning." - he said almost tripping over the cat that was entwined in his legs.
"Good morning." - she smiled.
"The hellish beast didn't give me peace until I took him outside to relieve his needs." - Snape justified himself. "I never thought I would complain about a cat's politeness."
"I couldn't use magic at my parents', so I had to teach him how to ask." - she smiled amused. Snape had taken her cat for a walk. "Toast?"
He walked over to the counter where she passed a plate of toast and took a bite of the piece she held out to him. When he sat on the stool next to her, Hermione's gaze lingered on Snape's forearm. She didn't want to sound rude, but she's been meaning to ask him how he hid the black mark since she had seen it so closely the month before.
"Is there some kind of spell to hide scars caused by dark spells?" - She blurted at once. There was no way to get around subtly at such a subject.
"I thought it would bother you, that's why I have hidden it." - he tried to explain himself, eyes on the toast.
"That's not what I meant," - Hermione hastened to say – "it's just that I would like to hide that scar of my own."
The night before, when the two of them showered together, he saw for the first time the purple scar that covered the front of her body in a line from her shoulder to her hip, across her chest. Her adventure through the Department of Mysteries left physical as well as psychological marks. Previously she had hidden the scar with muggle makeup, and Hermione was slightly surprised when the water and soap washed away the traces of the camouflage and Snape's expression didn't change at all when his eyes ran down the length of the scar.
"You don't have to hide from me." - Snape said putting his eyebrows together in a grimace.
"But you have to hide from me?" - Hermione teased.
"It's different. You didn't choose that." - he pointed vaguely in her direction.
"It's not even 10 in the morning and we're going to discuss philosophy?" - she crossed her hands under her chin, resting her elbows on the counter. "I chose this when I chose to believe Harry and follow him to the Ministry."
"Hermione..." - he sighed. "I can teach you how to hide it, if you want. Later." - he got up, running his hand over his mouth to clean the crumbs. "Now it's time for the second breakfast."
Snape positioned himself behind Hermione, gesturing for her to rise from the stool as well. She did it with a malicious smile.
"Am I correct in assuming that this shirt is mine?" - he asked holding the piece by the hem.
"Yes." - she replied weakly when he lifted the hem to her waist to find that she wore nothing but the shirt. Not even underwear.
"Well, well..." - he took in the sight. He was slowly taking note of the things that excited her and clearly, she liked his voice, so he spoke to her even when it was not strictly necessary.
He lifted the shirt up, and Hermione raised her arms so that the piece was taken off over her head. Snape rested his right hand between her shoulder blades and pushed it lightly so that she would lay on the bench.
"Are you cold?" - he asked running his hand down Hermione's spine and placing it on her bum.
"No." - she sighed.
"You are shaking." - he pointed.
"Not because I'm cold." - and she narrowed her eyes at the same time that her cheeks flushed red with shame.
"Are you telling me that this turns you on?" - he asked innocently.
Hermione was unable to produce a sufficiently intelligible answer. Nothing escaped her lips but a murmur, as he slowly lowered his hand from her bottom to the back of her thighs.
"I think I better check then, since you can't answer me." - Snape said positioning himself behind her and bending his body slightly in order to observe her sex more clearly.
"I can't see very well, love. Can you hold yourself open for me?" - he asked in such a false tone that he couldn't hide the smile that spread across his face.
When she took both hands to her buttocks and parted them for him, Snape had to run his hand over his face to chase away disbelief. He brought the back of his hand to her lips and could clearly see the strands of hair that covered them connected by fine lines of moisture.
"Merlin... Are you as wet inside as I can see that you are already on the outside?" - it was a stupid question. Of course, if he could see from the outside, she was drenched inside. Still, Snape found it arousing to know that talking to her had as immediate an effect as what was showing here and now: she pulsed at him as if she were trying to communicate by morse code.
"I think you're going to have to check it out for yourself." - she whispered.
A Gryffindor through and through. He did not hesitate to slide two fingers into her and quickly remove them to confirm by the glistening that covered them that, in fact, she was aroused. He wanted those weeks to last for a year.
That afternoon, after lunch (and second lunch), Snape approached Hermione who was sitting in the armchair in front of the fireplace with a package in his hands.
"Happy Christmas." - he said, handing her the brown paper package.
"Severus! I didn't know we would be exchange gifts..." - she said embarrassed.
"Do not worry about it." - he shook the package. "Don't you want it?"
Hermione tore the paper tentatively. From the shape of it she guessed I was a book, which would be an easy choice with her, but he managed to go even further.
Earth magic in the third millennium: a feminine approach, by Emilie Dumont.
"Severus, I..." - she didn't seem to find the words – "I searched all the existing books on Earth Magic and left my name registered in Flourish and Blotts to notify me about future releases..."
"It hasn't been released in Britain yet." - Snape interrupted. "That friend of mine who works at the Sorbonne owed me a favor, so I asked her to translate the original. I hope you don't mind that I borrowed your wand while you were sleeping."
She touched the tip of her wand on a random page in the middle of the book and the words in English changed to French when she glided the artefact over the sentence.
"It will help you study French too, if you rethink that program at the Sorbonne. And on the first page..." - he flipped the book on her lap and directing her wrist, made her wand touch the first blank page.
In the hope that you find the answers you look for.
The dedication appeared magically. No signature, but she knew it was his handwriting, she would forever know that he had given himself the trouble of such a well thought out gift.
"Severus... It's been little over a month since I started researching Earth Magic..." - Hermione flipped through the book at random, filled with disbelief. The volume appeared to have no less than 700 pages. "How did your friend translate all this in such a short time...?"
"She owed me a big favor." - Snape interrupted smiling.
"I..." - Hermione started, but the words seemed to be lost on her lips. "Thank you very much, Severus. With all my heart."
And she made it her personal goal to gift him with something as meaningful as this book at the first possible opportunity.
Author's note:
A person approached me on Tumblr to point out the problem of a relationship between Snape and Hermione at this point in history, especially considering that here he has a daughter a only little younger than she is. Yes, I know this is problematic and this issue will be dealt with in due course. Have some patience to follow the story.
I don't know about you, but I always imagined Snape as the type of person who rarely give gifts people, but when he does he doesn't skimp on the meanings.
And I also think that Valerie is the type of person who sees clearly through Dumbledore's actions, perhaps because she was raised so far from all the drama that surrounds him.
As always... leave a comment! I love to know what you guys are thinking! xx