Escape from the Darkness: Chapter 5

Hermione stretched languidly as she woke up the next morning. She had slept terribly, and late into the morning. She sat up when a realization hit her. It was August 22nd! Not that there was anything significant about the date, but it was the day that Harry and Ron were coming! She looked at her clock, noticing that it was 11:30, meaning that she only had a half hour before they got here. Hermione got ready quickly, but with a cheerfulness that she hadn't felt since the last term had ended. It had been two months since she had seen them, and she certainly missed them a lot.

They had gotten permission from Headmaster Dumbledore to come about a week early to see her before classes began. When Harry had written a letter to her mentioning this, she had been delighted. It had been upsetting for her not to see them for the entire summer—the last one before she finished her schooling at Hogwarts. Hermione sighed sadly, thinking of the times before the killings of Muggleborn wizards had gotten so bad. She had actually been able to go home, and had even gone abroad with her parents many times. But now her family would be in danger if she left Hogwarts to see them. And the thought of that scared her more than anything.

Hermione hurried down to the Great Hall, right as her friends were arriving. "Harry, Ron!" she cried with joy. She hugged and kissed them both on the cheek, a gesture which she immediately regretted when she saw Ron blushing. Recently, she had been suspecting that Ron regarded her as more than a friend. Unfortunately for him, she didn't feel the same way.

However, Hermione brushed her worries on that matter aside, not wishing to spoil her pleasure at seeing her two best friends again. As they walked towards the table, the three of them began talking about everything that had happened since they had last seen each other. Now that Harry and Ron were both adults in the wizarding world, they could apparate, which caused a small amount of jealousy in Hermione. Her seventeenth birthday wasn't for another month, so she wouldn't be able to get her license until then. Despite the fact that all of the time-turner use from her third year had aged her several months, Professor McGonagall had advised her to wait until after her actual birthday to test for the apparition license.

When the three of them sat down, Hermione realized that Snape's eyes were on her. He looked a little paler than usual, but normal other than that. She had truly not expected him to leave his suite at all today, but was both relieved and pleased that he was all right. Her gaze met his, and a small smile crept onto her face. His expression didn't change—it was still the same scowl that she was accustomed to seeing.

Ron interrupted her thoughts. "Hermione, are you listening to me?" She nodded and turned her head back to him. "As I was saying, Harry and I came up with a new Quidditch strategy and…"

Hermione tried to pay attention, but could feel her concentration wavering. Professor Snape was still watching her. She attempted to ignore the discomfort she felt from this, but was unsuccessful. She just wanted to leave the Great Hall.

"Harry! And Ron, too!" Hermione looked up to see an excited Colin Creevey, followed by his brother, Dennis, and Selene. The three had been spending every spare moment together. Selene loved astronomy, and Colin and Dennis had been teaching her all about astrophotography, taking pictures of the night sky. Hermione was slightly glad for this, because Selene had been following her around everywhere in the beginning of the summer. It was the same way that Colin had been with Harry several years earlier, and was flattering, but also slightly annoying. The six of them talked until the end of the meal, and—despite the unnerving gaze of the Potions master—Hermione enjoyed it immensely. She was reassured by the fact that, despite all of the turmoil in the world, she still had her two best friends.

"Wow, Snape's niece looks a lot like him," Harry said after he Ron, and Hermione left the Great Hall.

"The poor girl," Ron said under his breath.

"Ron!" Hermione elbowed him.

"Is she a Slytherin?" Harry asked.

Hermione shook her head. "I'm not sure yet. She gets sorted with the first year students at the Start-of-Term Feast." Her eyes twinkled mischievously. "I think that she would make a great Gryffindor, though, don't you?"

Ron just rolled his eyes. "She's related to Snape. Of course she's going to be in Slytherin!"

The conversation then turned to Quidditch, and Hermione found herself tuning Ron out once again. Instead, she was focused on Harry. He had seemed so happy a few minutes earlier, but now…

Ron kept talking all the way to the Gryffindor common room. When they got there, Ron left to unpack, but Harry stayed behind.

"Harry? What is it?" she asked quietly as she sat down next to him on the sofa. He didn't respond. Her eyes widened. "Is this about Ron?"

Harry nodded. "I thought that I should tell you. I didn't want to say anything to Ron, but I've been having more of my dreams lately." He paused. "The dream is always the same, although sometimes it starts at different places. But the end never changes. The dream always ends with me standing over Ron's dead body." Harry swallowed and looked down.

Putting her hand on his arm, Hermione said, "Oh, Harry. You know that those dreams aren't always true! Maybe they are just normal nightmares. Or maybe it's something Voldemort is doing." Hermione shuddered. Not from the name, for she had stopped being afraid of speaking it over the past year, but from the idea that he might be controlling Harry's dreams again. "But I don't think you should take them to be premonitions! Look what happened with…" She trailed off, even though they both knew that she was talking about Sirius. Tears formed in Hermione's eyes, which she tried to hold back.

"I'm so worried that something will happen to Ron, or to you, and it will be my fault," Harry cried. "And those dreams with Ron…"

Harry stopped. They sat in silence for a long time. Finally, Hermione asked the thing that she had been suspecting for a long time.

"You're in love with Ron, aren't you?"

"Yes," Harry said in a low voice. "But he's been in love with you for years, Hermione. I don't have a chance."

Hermione was completely speechless.

***************

After he left the Great Hall, Severus walked back to his rooms in displeasure. Wonderful, he thought sarcastically. Just what I need—Potter and Weasley, the two most revolting Gryffindors in the school. And of course, Granger was fawning over the two of them throughout the entire meal. It's sickening. He frowned at that thought of her. His heart rate had sped up when she had smiled at him today at lunch. Severus made a mental note to check if heart palpitations were one of the after-effects of Cruciatus. That was certainly the only explanation.

He wondered if Granger expected him to be grateful that she had assisted him the night before. He wasn't. Well, at least not that he would admit. More than anything, he just wished that she would mind her own business. Severus hated that she had seen him in a weakened state, and hated it even more that she had probably saved him from suffering any permanent damage. He doubted that he would have been able to handle using the Floo Network within the castle to get Albus, and would definitely have not been able to walk all the way to the Headmaster's office. Yes, Hermione Granger had helped him a lot.

When Severus arrived the night before, he had been surprised to find her there. He could only assume that she had been waiting for him to return. She had a book in front of her, but Severus truly doubted that someone of her intelligence was actually reading Gilderoy Lockhart's Magical Me (in fact, he didn't even know how that book had ended up in his library, but decided to dispose of it immediately). The thought that she cared enough to wait up for him was somewhat comforting. Although he actually tried to encourage feelings of hatred and fear of him in most of the non-Slytherin students, for some strange reason he was glad that Hermione Granger didn't completely loathe him.

As the summer had gone by, he had found himself disliking her less and less. He was beginning to see her as his intellectual equal. There were few people at Hogwarts that he felt that way about and she was the only one out of them who was a student. He no longer had any desire to belittle her, and knew that once the next term began, he would reserve his criticism for more deserving students, such as Longbottom, Weasley, and Potter. Severus suddenly found himself groaning at the thought of those three students. It was unpleasant to think of, and he had been attempting to block out thoughts of his three worst students during the summer. He had mostly succeeded until today. All three of them wanted to become Aurors, which meant they needed to take N.E.W.T. level Potions. The strangest thing was the fact that all three of them had gotten the O.W.L.s necessary to qualify for his advanced class. Severus found himself wishing that they were more like their friend, Miss Granger, who was studious and not prone to stupidity. The thought that he actually wanted more students like Hermione Granger made him cringe. It was something that he never would've imagined desiring.

Severus sighed. His thoughts were constantly on Granger, which was absolutely maddening. And he found himself beginning to hope to run into her in his library or in the hallways. Her presence was actually preferable to his customary solitude. The last time he had met another person that he had felt that way about was… well, it had never actually happened until now. He hadn't had any real friends throughout his entire life, with the exception of Albus Dumbledore. But even the old man was too much sometimes. It was different with Granger, whose habits seemed so similar to his own. Severus wasn't sure why he enjoyed being around Hermione Granger so much, but it would continue to pester him until he figured it out.

***************

The next few days passed very quickly and were very busy. Hermione had convinced Harry to take dreamless sleep potion at night, and because of that, he didn't look as depressed or exhausted as he had before. In addition, she went with her friends to Diagon Alley to buy supplies, and also tested Selene on everything that she needed to know. Hermione had gotten copies of first year exams from all of the teachers, and Selene had scored well on all of them, better than the majority of the students who had actually attended Hogwarts for their first year. Dumbledore seemed pleased, and agreed that Selene would do just fine as a second-year student. Hermione was absolutely thrilled, because this proved to her that she might be able to teach after all.

The day when the other students were set to arrive, Hermione began to move her belongings to her new room, the Head Girl's room. It was decorated in shades of white and lilac, most likely to appeal to female students of all houses. Hermione was pleased that she would no longer be forced to share a room with Parvati and Lavender, who were her friends, but often annoyed her.

After giving the dungeon room one last glance to make certain that she hadn't left anything behind, Hermione walked out, preparing to head for the Gryffindor common room. As she was walking past the door to Snape's quarters, it opened. Hermione jumped in surprise.

"Good afternoon, Miss Granger," Professor Snape told her.

"Hello, Professor Snape."

He began to walk in the opposite direction, then turned around. "Miss Granger."

Hermione stopped in her tracks. The Potions Master continued. "Thank you for teaching my niece. She's a silly girl, but somehow she learned a lot, thanks to you." She just looked at him, her mouth wide open. Snape smirked at her. "I hope you'll continue using my library for your research. I have several books coming in that are hard to find, and will probably be of interest to you."

With several strides, he was down the hallway, leaving a dumbstruck Hermione gaping after him. Had he just…complimented her? Hermione could feel her face turning bright red. She was happy that Professor Snape had already left the hallway, and wasn't around to see her embarrassment at his remarks. He had always endeavored to find fault with her, but now… He was actually being nice to her. It sounded as though he didn't despise her as she had expected. What had happened to him?

Hermione leaned back against the wall, feeling dizzy, her pulse racing. If it had been any other professor, she wouldn't have been so shocked. But this was Snape! And there had been no sarcasm in his tone, which was utterly perplexing. She almost would have preferred for him to speak to her in his usual manner. That would have been explainable and wouldn't have caused her to feel so many unfamiliar emotions, which confused her more than any she had ever felt before.