"I cannot believe he lied to everyone like that!" Hermione exclaimed exasperated as she paced the kitchen floor backwards and forwards with the finesse of a cat stalking its prey. To say she was livid would be an understatement actually.
Severus sat at the kitchen table watching her incessant pacing akin to a tiger locked in a cage. Backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards. His neck was starting to get sore following the path she took over and over again. He noticed the angrier she grew, the faster she paced. One foot before the other, ten steps to the left, stop, turn on her heel to do ten to the left, spin and onwards.
"You are only realising now that Potter lies and quite well, I may add. Just like his father," he spat viciously. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. For a while there I thought perhaps, he wasn't even from the same orchard but once I got to know him more, I realised they were in fact from the same tree."
"Oh, no." she waved a hand dismissively. "I know he can lie. His more elaborate lies were the ones I came up with, but I am sure you already knew that. I just didn't think he would lie about that." She shrugged as she turned her back to the kitchen bench, crouched a touch and launched herself up. Her butt hitting the bench silently. Legs swingling over the edge of the bench she watched Severus intently.
"Well, then your observation skills are probably lacking because he will lie about anything and everyone to get out of trouble even if it means sinking others in his quest for freedom." He slammed an open palm hard on the table out of utter frustration.
"Mmm. Well. I think I am starting to realise that more now I am not being hoodwinked by him. His true colours are really starting to show now I suppose." She sighed deeply. Running a hand through her tangled mass of curls she wondered what he would lie about next. She exhaled sharply. Anything was possible.
Silence engulfed them as they both sat, neither saying a word. Hermione wondered what would become of them. Would they ever let Severus go? She doubted it. She wondered if she could ever repair the friendship that had started breaking at the seams, cracking, and falling down around her after they took purchase of Severus. She had never seen such an evil side to Harry such as she had of late. Yes, she knew he had red hot anger coursing through his veins, and he was out for justice for Dumbledore's death, but at the same time, he didn't really know half the story. Always rushing head-long into situations he knew little about often made dangerous circumstances and right now, keeping Severus against his will was probably making a very powerful enemy.
She studied Severus for a moment. He wasn't that much older than she, his lank hair fell limply around his face and stopped at his shoulders. His skin was as pale as ever. He was much thinner than their days at Hogwarts, eyes sunken a little and the lines in his face harsher; deeper. He looked broke; beaten. Almost a ghost of his former self and she couldn't but help feel a pang of guilt in her heart for that. After all, her friends were the ones that had made him the shell of his former self.
His thin lips pulled taught as she looked at those for a moment and blushed. Biting her own bottom lip in deep thought she looked away quickly remembering back to the kiss they almost shared earlier in the day but were disrupted. Who knew how that would have ended… It was silly of her to even think back on it. Both caught in the moment of then and there and neither thinking clearly the kiss would have been little more than a big mistake that both would regret she was certain about that but at the same time, she wondered what it would be like to kiss the potions master. To feel his lips on her own. To feel the passion of the kiss he would bestow upon her in a dizzying head spin. No. She shook her head gently, sending the thought out of her mind. That wasn't what was going to happen.
Severus watched the younger girl intently as she sat idly on the bench, only her legs swinging gently to and fro causing a slight breeze to pass him. She had grown exponentially since the first day he saw her walk into Hogwarts on her very first day, not that he took much notice of her. Back then she was just a fish swimming in the sea of anonymity and hadn't befriended Harry Potter right at that moment in time. That was her downfall, nothing more and nothing less; she befriended Potter and since that day her life had been in a downward spiral.
Her face longer, white skin soft and glowing with youth. Brown curls longer cascading down her back like a chocolate waterfall. She was thinner now, taller, not by much but she certainly had grown. He studied her studying him and he shifted awkwardly beneath her gaze and thought about pressing into her mind to see what she was thinking but opted to stay out just this once; he didn't want to know what she really thought of him. Wait. What? Since when did he care what anyone thought of him?
He assumed by the odd way she was staring him down that his plan to befriend her and have her falling off his every word was going swimmingly. She would probably do just about anything for him right now; especially after the Potter escapade. He wanted to leave here with her, just for the entertainment value. It would give him no better delight than to hear of Potter returning and he and Hermione had long gone. He wanted to dangle Hermione before Potter much like a carrot dangling before a horse just out a grasp, just beyond reach but enough to warrant interest. That. That was what he wanted. He wanted to have something Potter wanted but couldn't have.
He stood and closed the gap between them. Gently he placed an index finger below her chin, tilting her head up to look at him. He was going to test this theory. He was going to see if the girl would follow him into the unknown and the unchartered. He would see if the girl was so pissed with Potter that she would abandon all logical thinking and inhibition and follow him like a loyal dog would follow its owner anywhere.
She sighed softly catching her gaze with his own. He held her gaze steadfast and hard not dropping it for a second.
She wanted to pull away, to look away but something in his eyes commanded her full attention. She licked her lips gently and sucked in a deep breath. Was this it? Was he finally going to kill her?
"Hermione," He began bluntly.
"Severus," She met the bluntness with her own.
"Let's go. Let's run. Let's leave here. Leave Potter. Leave the order. Leave Weasley. Just disappear into the day before they storm into here wands blazing with what twisted story Lupin is going to run back and portray. The evil potions master in bed with the young, innocent Hermione Granger wouldn't warrant a warm welcome I am certain of it no matter how platonic the situation was," desperation laced his tone as he reached his free hand out to run down her cheek gently.
He could do this. He could play anyone, and the proof was in the pudding with Voldemort. If he could play one of the most dangerous wizards in the world, he could play a young schoolgirl who still had stars in her eyes and big dreams in her mind. He could play the young girl he had been moulding and playing this whole time for this exact moment.
She blinked rapidly trying to process what he had just proposed to her, thoughts hazy once he ran a finger across her cheek. Maybe she did want that kiss. No. No, she didn't.
"I. We." She nibbled nervously on her lower lip in deep thought. Something Severus noticed she did when she was thinking, however, the ferocity in which she did so correlated to whatever she was thinking. For example, just before when she was looking at him, her lip sat idly almost seductively between her teeth and now she nibbled at her lip as her life depended on it and he knew she was torn.
"Do you really want to be around them, Hermione? Do you really trust them after what they did to me? Don't you want them to learn a harsh lesson? Aren't you sick of being the friend who will do whatever they say because you feel obliged?"
He dropped her chin and rested a hand mid-way up her thigh. His skin burning hot and his touch made her leg tingle.
"And where will we go?" She whispered gently, finally able to pull her gaze from his own.
"I have somewhere. They won't find us, Hermione. But if anyone asks you are my prison. My takings from what they bestowed upon me. You will, in essence, have to play the perfect prisoner. Can you do that? Not forever. No. Just to keep up appearances for a while."
"I don't think this is a great idea," she managed to blurt out, shifting uncomfortably at the mere thought.
Lightning-fast he cupped both of her cheeks with his hands. "I promise, Hermione. Nothing will befall you. Nothing will happen to you. You will be safer with me than you would with any of the order and that's a promise." He held her gaze once more as if willing her to choose him over them.
Her posture slumped slightly, and she stopped nibbling her bottom lip and he knew then and there what her answer was.
"I will come with you, Severus. But only because I trust you."
Bingo. There it was. Trust.
o-o-o-o-o
She blinked rapidly, the orange glow of the lazy setting sun burning her retinas as Severus apparated them to a park. A heavy, dirt air filled her lungs as she stepped wobbly back from his grasp. Dilapidated houses lined the opposite side of the park, old shopping carts strewn across the large field.
She crinkled her nose up. Well. Nobody would think to look for her in this shit hole of a town.
Silently Severus set off along a well-worn path, clutching his wand that Hermione had given him back tightening in his fingers. Hermione trotted along closely behind him not wanting to fall behind for fear she may be kidnapped and sold into the human trafficking trade.
He ducked around a corner, then another and another before he stopped before a street sign and he watched a house in the distance intently checking left and right as if checking for someone or something that shouldn't be here.
She cast a quick glance to the large, grimy and faded street sign above her just as he moved on again.
The sign read Spinners End. Well. What fresh hell was this?
A/N: I know. I Know. I have been so slack with my updating lately! I have a fair idea where I want this to go now so hopefully, I can motor along and get more chapters out for you!