Chapter 10- Scheming
With only a few days of complete privacy left, Hermione and Severus made the most of their time by researching, packing and thinking of ways they could communicate without being caught by those around them, despite the fact that it's not strange for cousins to meet up they still felt weary.
"There has got to be some way for us to talk without being caught, what did you and your group do to meet up?" Severus shouted from the bathroom.
Of course, Hermione had already perfected a way to talk long distances, but her spells weren't old enough to use without people getting suspicious of her. She knew she could trust Severus not to expose her but as much as she trusted him there was still a small part of her in the depths of her mind that remembered Snape. Despite knowing that her Severus would never turn into the Snape she knew there would always be features of all the people of her past that she would see in the people of her future.
"Hermione, did you hear me?" Severus asked from the doorway, somewhere in their very short time together he had opened up to her more than either of them ever thought possible. This included being comfortable enough to walk around without a t-shirt, now something about a shirtless young Severus Snape with wet hair and sweatpants, well Hermione was still a teenage girl and had she not come to see this man as a brother she very much could've seen him as more had this been her original life.
"Sorry Sev, I was thinking," she responded once her brain and mouth finally caught up, while Hermione was trying to disguise the red beginning to seep into her cheeks, she didn't notice his reaction to the nickname Sev. "There is a way but I don't want to use it in case anyone finds it."
'Catch up Sev, don't be such a slow poke' Lily yelled as she ran towards their favourite tree.
'Hey Sev, can you help me with this spell, I don't quite understand,' she whispered from across the mountain of books on their table.
Sev this, Sev that, up until the final Severus spoken with a teary sneer. He had ruined so much with their relationship and he wasn't sure he would ever get the friendship aspect back.
"Severus, you there?" Hermione concernedly asked, waving her hand in front of his face, "You're dripping water all over the floor."
"Sorry," he mumbled, walking away to get a towel for his hair. "It's just that Lily used to call me Sev, I didn't…" he began before tapering off.
Knowing full well the power of familiar words she just nodded her head and smiled solemnly.
"If you want I won't call you…"
"No, it's alright, you're allowed to use it, I don't mind." he interjected before she could finish her sentence.
The two returned to their previous activities, Hermione thinking of less advanced ways to communicate and Severus getting dressed. As the beginning of school loomed closer their packed trunks sat at the front door, both hardly needed to pack and Hermiones trunk was mostly for show to not expose her bag to unwelcome eyes.
On the final day before they left Hermione and Severus had yet to decide on the best way to communicate without being caught.
Every suggestion was shot down by the other and Severus just knew that Hermione was hiding something. There had to be a way, and she definitely knew one but she wasn't budging. He had considered finding it himself when they did their Occlumency practice, in fact Severus was certain that before meeting Hermione that indeed would've been what he did. Somehow meeting her had altered his ideas towards trust, mainly that if he wanted her to trust him, forcing her to show him would not end well. Instead, because he was still annoyed at her, he had a different plan.
One owl later there was a knock on the door. Of course, had Hermione not been in the shower she would've heard said knock, and wouldn't dare dream of walking around the house in a towel because all her clothes were in the laundry.
Alas, Hermione was in the shower and did not hear the knock and all of her clothes were in the laundry.
"Ahhhh," screamed a dripping wet, red faced Hermione, "Severus!"
Severus did not even attempt to contain his laughter, however the other occupant did his best to protect the modesty of the gorgeous woman in front of him by facing away. Despite only meeting her twice he decided it would be best not to get on her bad side, whilst small in stature her gait was very similar to that of his friend. Both were clearly prepared to attack or defend without a moment's notice.
Mortified, Hermione apologised to their guest several times and quickly exited the room making her way to Severus's wardrobe to find some clean clothes to wear. It was merely seconds before she was dressed in an old shirt she fashioned into a dress with a shrunken belt to make it slightly more stylish.
"You could've warned me you know," she grumbled, returning to the room where their guest now refused to look her in the eye.
"My sincerest apologies," Severus smirked, clearly not sorry at all for what just transpired.
Their guest simply sat twiddling his thumbs desperately avoiding looking anywhere near the tantalising young woman before him. She was only about a year or two older than him, but she seemed much older mentally. He could relate very closely with that. He too had suffered a great deal in his short life, however he was quite sure she had gone through so much more.
Beginning to feel awkward in the silence of the room, Regulus decided it was time to finally speak, but what to speak about he wasn't sure. Looking around the room for a moment, their trunks caught his eye.
'That's right, she's coming to Hogwarts for the year.' He thought excitedly to himself, schooling his features as to not give away the excitement of being able to see her more.
"How did your sorting go?" He asked, trying not to seem too interested in where she would be all year. "Severus told me that you two were going in early to get you sorted before the first day."
"Yes we did, I will be in Ravenclaw." she spoke quietly, risking a glance at the handsome boy she never fathomed being someone she might one day consider a friend.
"Oh wonderful, I always thought that Severus or myself might be better suited to Ravenclaw, but this one always seems to have something up his sleeve." He joked, trying to continue this lighter mood where they were less embarrassed.
"As much as I think he would be a good book worm, you are right, he is always scheming." Hermione replied, finally catching on as to why Severus might have invited his friend. "Seems as if everything he does is some sort of plan."
"Well I wouldn't say that," Severus grunted, worried that she may have already worked out that he was actually scheming right this very moment.
"Why did he invite you over Regulus?" Hermione questioned, "Not that I mind you being here of course, it just seems odd so close to when we will all return to Hogwarts that now would be a time for a social call."
Severus very much did not like her line of questioning, he wanted Hermione to be embarrassed and flustered and give away her secret of communication, but Reg had fudged all that by calling him a schemer.
"Oh, he just mentioned that the two of you had devised a better way to talk while you weren't around one another and that you two thought I might like to join in considering you might struggle to make friends coming in, in your last year. Some of the girls in our school are pretty cliquey." He said honestly, because that is what Severus told him.
Poor Severus knew the jig was up, Reg had given him away with his innocent explanation, the look Hermione gave him out of the corner of his eye told him he would be in for an ear full later.
"Is that so," Hermione began with a smirk, "just what is this way of communicating we've come up with Sev?"
Hermione wasn't certain he would be able to bullshit his way out of this one or if he would just flounder and couldn't decide whether or not to let him sink.
"I mean, if you two hadn't completely settled on something yet, I did have an idea that I've been looking into, but the magic is slightly too advanced for me to get right." Regulus expressed before Severus had a chance to sink or swim, which he definitely appeared grateful for. Two nods from his older peers gave way for Regulus to continue speaking. "I was looking into having an everyday object that already had writing on it and then you could communicate by changing the writing but the only person who can read it is the one it belongs to, I'm just not certain what objects to use or how to charm them to work, my attempts haven't been completely successful."
To say she was impressed was an understatement, her DA coins worked in a similar fashion just slightly less complex when it comes to who can read the message. They needed something with enough writing that wouldn't be weird to always have on them.
"Perhaps a textbook," Hermione suggested. "I'm sure I would be able to charm the contents page to change whatever we want it to say, I may even be able to charm them so that we can talk as a group or individually as well."
Both boys grinned, clearly happy with the idea of being able to talk without being detected and not having to do the work. Hermione knew she would have to be very careful to ensure the charms weren't obvious or too advanced in case anyone got hold of one of their books.
"I think we should have different textbooks as well, it might be a bit odd for Severus to be clinging to a divination textbook if you ask me." Regulus spoke in a tone full of mirth.
A roll of his eyes both confirmed Regulus's joke and Severus's displeasure. With that, Hermione informed them to get the text book so they wouldn't appear strange if they carried it always. For her it was Complex Ancient Runes, Severus of course has Potions, and surprisingly to Hermione (though it really shouldn't have been), Regulus got his Charms textbook.
Their final days leading up to September 1st, Hermione spent most of her time focusing on charming the books to perfection with a few comments here and there from the ever opinionated Severus and curious Regulus.
Honestly, if she thought about it, one might notice that she had found a friendship group with two males again, except this time she wouldn't have to baby them or pester them about school work. She might actually have people willing to study with her. But Hermione's brain didn't pick up on the similarities, for once the focus was on her future rather than her past. A future that starting tomorrow will become so much more difficult.
Authors Note:
Hi there, it's been a while, lets see how many chapters I can add before I forget about this story again! Don't worry about the Gaunt House, I haven't forgotten about it, they will go back later.
Lots of love,
-X