Spoilers: Order of the Phoenix
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He gave her two more days, the time for her to recover her wits; he didn't want to confront her while she was vulnerable. He didn't want her to feel threatened. Somehow Terry seemed to know what he was waiting for – and it was beginning to seriously irritate Severus – and gave him a discreet signal when the time was ready.
He found her by the foals' paddock, Lena's nose buried against her stomach. He watched her for a moment before deciding to begin on a rather neutral tone.
"Miss Granger, we need to settle this."
"I agree," she replied stiffly, not turning to face him.
"We can't go on with this charade. We both know better."
"I agree again and the solution is fairly simple. Kindly go away."
"Would you care to repeat this, Miss Granger?"
"Gladly. I said. Go. Away."
It hurt and Severus felt his defences kick back. Seeing her like this was more than he could bear so he decided to provoke her, to break the impassive shell.
"Miss Granger," he said, scowling, "it's not because of your loss that you can speak to me like this. No matter the pretence, it's not as if there was something between us."
Way to go, Severus. I don't think you could have been more hurting. Even Weasley could have done better. Well, maybe not, but then, if you are comparing yourself to Weasley, you're even more pathetic than I thought!
"Thank you so much for reminding me that I lost my baby only a few weeks ago, after losing my innocence. I'd have forgotten how worthless I am had it not been for you," she replied scathingly.
"Petty childish tantrums won't help us to solve this problem!"
"I couldn't agree more! But frankly, I can talk to you about books, about Death Eaters, about Potions, about pretty much everything, but as soon as it's about emotions, it's amazing how thick you can get!"
"Miss Granger! Even if the past events could have led you to think otherwise, I'm still your teacher and–"
She turned around and waved a parchment in the air.
"Not anymore. See this? This letter will be on the Headmaster's desk by tomorrow morning and, by the same time, I'll be gone from Hogwarts and from your life. So no, you're not my teacher anymore and before I leave definitely, I'll make things clear to you."
She took a deep breath and locked her eyes with his.
"About the past events… maybe it was his mind, maybe they were his acts, but it was still your body against mine, but it was still your child growing in me. Not Salazar's, yours. But you still don't understand, do you?"
He looked at her, feeling at a total loss.
"The hand against my skin was your hand, even if you claim that the tenderness was his. But no matter what my head says, my heart has a different song and my body remembers your caresses."
"Then–"
"Let me finish!" she hissed. "On the battlefield, I was there dying, with your name on my lips, but no, you still wouldn't understand! Next time I'm on the verge of dying, I'll try to call Voldemort's name, he will appreciate the irony, I'm sure. I cannot understand how someone as brilliant as you can be so blind. Don't bother to answer, I already know what you will tell me, probably something along the lines of what Malfoy told me."
"Malfoy? When did you see him?"
"Did you really think that Crabbe and Goyle would just keep me in the Slytherin common room like an ornament?" she replied scornfully. "I thought you read the letter carefully. He did say that he asked me to bring the narwhal tusk with me to the confrontation! He did say that they brought me to him!"
At the thought that someone else than himself could have touched Hermione, his blood boiled in his veins.
"Did he–"
"No."
He relaxed slightly.
"What did he say?"
"That I should be grateful to be barren, since now, no man will look at me ever again – not that there was any candidate before. But if ever I had a dream of a loving family and children, silly dream since, I repeat, no man would have taken interest in me, my barrenness has now destroyed the dream and I can concentrate fully on my studies. And, oh yes, even if I hadn't been barren, I would still have been alone, since after all, only Snape the greasy git touched me – only because Voldemort had stopped to provide him with pure-blood playthings, naturally. So, Gryffindor ugly know-it-all, Mudblood Granger, 'tainted' by the evil overgrown bat and now barren, is standing in front of you with no hope and no future."
"Stop wallowing in self-pity! First of all, you will not send this letter to Albus. Secondly, you will give me a chance to make things right. I caused this, now I have to fix it."
"You did nothing wrong. I have a brain, I should have used it instead of relying on someone else."
"You trusted me and I betrayed your trust."
"What do you care? You never cared for the child, nor for me! So leave me alone, wallowing in self-pity, as you put it so graciously!" she yelled, tears invading her eyes.
He glared at her before seizing her by the shoulders and bringing down his lips on hers. She struggled madly, her letter falling on the ground, forgotten.
"Don't you try to bring in Rowena! I've crushed her and if she ever comes near me, I'll hex her into oblivion!" she screeched.
"Please do, I'll hex Salazar with equal glee!" he replied, stealing another bruising kiss.
"I thought you said you were still my teacher!" she argued, trying to keep him at arm's length.
"You said I wasn't anymore," he said with a smirk, pulling her to him and blocking her arms between them.
He cradled the back of her head with his hand and began to assault her mouth again, whispering something between each desperate kiss. It took some time for Hermione to realise what was the word he was repeating over and over.
"Hermione… Hermione… Hermione…"
She whimpered and his kisses became gentler and slower.
"No!" she protested only half-heartedly.
"Oh yes! Remember what I said to Lucius: what I claim as mine remains mine, and mine only. You are mine."
Hermione surrendered and closed her eyes. Severus smirked and freed his wand hand briefly enough for casting Incendio on the letter she had planned to send to Albus. He would not let her leave Hogwarts, ever.
"What about Crabbe and Goyle?" she murmured, tentatively returning his kisses.
"I'll kill them for you if you want," he replied, not really caring. "In fact, I think I have an idea for getting rid of Crabbe and Goyle," he added.
"What is it?"
He took her hand in his and produced a silver dagger from nowhere. As the tip of the blade was already touching the scar of the blood binding ceremony, Hermione retreated.
"No, not yet. Severus, can you… I don't want to be the Heir."
"Meaning?"
"I don't want to be the Child of the prophecy. Can you do the potion you did for Voldemort? With your blood and Harry's so I'll be back to what I was before, just being Rowena's Heir? I'm tired of feeling the awareness of Hogwarts in the back of my mind at all time, of having people scattering away as soon as I come near them. I want to be myself again. And then, I promise you, if you think it will be useful, we will perform the blood binding ceremony properly."
"It will bind you to me and vice-versa, which means you can't be owned by anyone else but me. Crabbe and Goyle will have to relinquish their claim on you. But… it will be forever."
She nodded slowly but then, as she was going to kiss him, he pulled away, his hands rummaging through his hair.
"No," he said softly. "No, it's wrong. I… I have to come clean first."
She looked at him quizzically and he took a deep breath before beginning his explanations.
"Hermione, do you remember when I told you I still had secrets? I… Oh Gods… I worked on several potions. One of them is to cure your barrenness."
He saw the flash of hope in her eyes.
"Can we begin the treatment now?"
He winced.
"You're going to hate me… Hermione, the treatment is already begun. In fact, it's complete. The very evening you confronted the Dark Lord, Terry cast a sleeping charm on you; I took advantage of it and brought you to Poppy so she could treat you. I came for you every night to continue the treatment. I didn't want to tell you because it could still have failed and I didn't want you to hope in vain. The spell that Draco sent allowed me to brew the final potion for your cure. When Cornelius was here, he said that you were a virgin. I didn't cast any spell, Hermione. There wasn't any spell, I swear."
"Then how…?"
"The potion is based on phoenix tears and unicorn blood. It seemed the combination of the two restored your virginity."
Something about virgin blood and unicorn blood. Indeed, Lucius, you were so right… He closed his eyes and forced himself to continue.
"So it's like nothing has ever happened. You're free to start again, to be with a man you love, to whom you can give… what I took from you," he said, her words still ringing in his head.
She was shaking all over, but her mind was as sharp as ever.
"You forgot something. The fact that I can't stand any touch but yours."
He shook his head.
"I'm not forgetting anything. I told you I worked on several potions. The other one is… it removes the spell Rowena cast on her descendants. I asked the elves to put it in your drink this morning. You are already free from me. I… I saw you with Terry Boot just before you called the Dark Lord in the Great Hall. You can go to him if you want."
He almost couldn't believe the words that were coming from his mouth. Each of them was hurting him but he couldn't do less for her.
"You would let me go?" she asked incredulously.
"I am letting you go, if it's what you want."
"Why? You said only minutes ago that I was yours."
"I was wrong."
"Why?" she insisted.
He took a deep breath.
"Because I love you too much to cage you. If you want to be with me, it has to be of your own will. No, love, don't say a word now. Think about it. You're a virgin and your barrenness is cured. You're free, free to have your own family, have the children you want, free to forget the nightmare I made you live. You have your whole life in front of you. You don't have to waste it by staying with me."
He left the paddock swiftly and she was still gaping.
He buried himself in his room for the rest of the day, thankful it was a Saturday. It had taken him all his will for not pulling her into his arms and begging her shamelessly to stay with him. If she didn't come to him, he would leave at the end of the year. Maybe Viktor would stay, if Severus was out of the picture.
Slightly smirking, he wondered what would Salazar say, now that the Potions Master's heart had definitely surrendered to love. So far, his greatest fear was that Hermione wouldn't forgive him for the thing with Pansy, Vincent and Gregory. He frowned; thinking of it, he still hadn't explained the whole situation to Albus. Humorously, he thought that it felt as if he was trying to put things in order before dying. In a certain way, maybe it was. He wasn't sure he wanted to keep up the masquerade he had to call life for the last twenty years.
He stood up and went to the fireplace. He threw some Floo powder in the fire.
"Albus? Do you have a moment?"
"Of course, Severus, what is it?"
Severus stepped into the fireplace and only a moment after, he stood in Albus's office.
"Sherbet lemon?"
The Potions Master smirked.
"I wouldn't want to be under the same Imperius curse as you are."
Albus chuckled, his eyes twinkling merrily.
"True, true, I had almost forgotten. Well, Severus, what brings you to me?"
"A confession to make, Albus."
Carefully keeping his voice neutral, Severus began to tell what happened in the Slytherin common room with Vincent and Gregory, at first not mentioning that he had been under a spell. Albus's eyes lost their twinkle and blazed with fury.
"Why did you lie to Minerva and me?"
"Technically, I didn't lie. Pansy did."
"Why didn't you correct her?"
"The situation was already tense enough like this! I didn't want you and Minerva on my back during this time. My only preoccupation was Hermione and I wanted you out of my way! She knew what she thought to be the truth and I had to deal with it."
Albus went very still.
"There is something you didn't tell me."
"In the letter Draco Malfoy sent, he said that Crabbe and Goyle put me under a dark spell to make me agree to anything. Though I find it quite difficult to accept that I didn't feel anything, I cannot find any reason for him to lie about this matter. Rehabilitating me to Hermione's eyes makes no sense for him."
Albus crossed his fingers thoughtfully.
"I understand why you presented the situation to me like this. If you had mentioned the spell at the beginning, I would have thought you were trying to present yourself as a victim. I'm sorry for doubting you, Severus."
The Potions Master shrugged carelessly.
"It doesn't matter. I was doubting myself afterwards."
Albus looked at him with his irritating all-knowing gaze.
"Anything else you want to tell me?"
"I just stopped Hermione from sending you a letter about her quitting Hogwarts. And I told her that Poppy and I cured her barrenness and that I managed to break Rowena's spell binding her to me."
The Headmaster seemed taken aback. Severus made as if he hadn't noticed anything.
"To resume the situation, she's free from me. The cure for her barrenness restored her virginity, as Fudge noticed."
"So it was no spell?"
"No. I could have come up with a spell that Weasley wouldn't have detected – because I know more much than he will ever know about Dark Arts – but I didn't get the time to do so. But… you know I would have done anything to keep Hermione out from harm."
"I know this, Severus, but did you ever think that some people would have liked for you to be out of danger also? No, don't answer this, son. Just think about it."
Slightly dazed, Severus returned to his rooms.
A surprise was waiting for him there. Salazar's ghost was floating nonchalantly around his ceiling and Severus raised his eyebrows.
"Finding the timbered ceiling interesting, are you?" he asked scathingly.
"I heard about the spell cast on you. Why didn't you tell me?"
"Why didn't you feel it by yourself? You know me enough to know I would never have done anything remotely similar to this of my own free will!"
Salazar's ghost turned a strange colour, as if he was ashamed.
"Severus, I'm sorry, I was so angry that I didn't think."
"I didn't think! I swear you could be a Gryffindor!"
Severus found a malicious pleasure in insulting the ghost of his House's Founder. Oddly, Salazar didn't react to his cutting remark.
"You broke the bond between you and Hermione," he said softly.
"Naturally. I told you we wanted to have genuine feelings, not induced ones."
"Why did you do so? You lost all chances with her!"
Severus felt himself blanch.
"Did she tell you so?"
"No! But it's obvious, Severus! You're surly and sarcastic, why would she want to be with you when she could be with Helga's Heir or her brother from Ravenclaw?"
"So that's why Rowena cast the spell so long ago? Because she knew I was insufferable?" he asked bitterly.
"Well, Rowena was always good in Arithmancy…"
"Get out of here, Salazar, before I remember a spell to exorcise ghosts," Severus said tightly.
Normally, the ghost would have retorted and fought until the end, but he somehow felt that it was not the good moment. He disappeared immediately and Severus flung open the door to his office so he could research for spells to keep ghosts away from one's quarters.
He stopped dead as his chest almost collided with the raised fist of Hermione, who had been ready to knock on the door.
"Hmm… Good evening?" she said tentatively.