A Rose By Any Other Name.

By Kes.

Disclaimer: As per usual, I do not own the HP-Verse or Alan Rickman.

The first week of term had passed rather uneventfully for Hermione. She had seen Severus every couple of nights, but had managed to sleep on her own for the most part. Or so she thought. Severus had been keeping an eye on her, to make sure she was all right via the house elves. Since they were able to get around without being noticed, they seemed to be the natural choice.

Now, however, it was Saturday.

Hermione had decided to go and see her mother's grave for the first time.

She took a deep breath and looked in the mirror.

All black.

There was a knock on the door.

"C-come in." She answered, rather shakily.

Harry, Ron and Ginny came nervously into the room, all self-consciously plucking off non-existent pieces of fluff off their black robes in order to avoid eye contact.

Hermione smiled slightly, a worried smile, and put on her black robe as well as her new black heels. She accio-ed the flowers: two roses, one red and one black and a small collection of her mother's favourites. It was a rather eclectic mix, but it was beautiful just the same.

"The flowers are lovely, mione." Said Harry.

"Yeah, especially those two roses, they complement each other...sort of" Commented Ron. He gave up speaking, feeling incredibly awkward.

"You okay?" This came from Ginny.

Hermione nodded a rather unconvincing nod; Ginny sighed, and encapsulated her into a gentle friendly hug. They both broke the embrace, somewhat tearful but smiling gently.

Realising that no one had said much so far, Hermione braced herself, and took a deep breath.

"Right. Let's go." She smiled weakly.

They walked silently through the abnormally deserted common room – thanks to Harry and Ron - and walked down the stairs. As Harry, Ron and Ginny walked towards the huge double doors of the entrance, Hermione paused and started to walk towards the dungeons.

"Where are you going?" Asked Ginny.

"To get Sev-Snape. He has to come...school regulations, besides, Professor McGonagall is busy." She replied a little hastily. It was all a lie. She wanted him to come, and he had agreed before she had even tried to nervously ask.

"Oh...right." Replied Harry, not quite convinced, but he let it go. For some reason he felt that Hermione had not told them all of what had happened over the summer.

Severus joined the gang, a little surprised that the Weasley's were there. Then, realising his own stupidity, he nodded slightly to each of them.

Ron was shocked.

Snape was being civil?

Why did he never have a wizard camera when he needed one? He could have that neutral expression - better than one of pure hatred - framed. Better still, published in the Daily Prophet...

This isn't Snape. This is some sort of clone. It has to be. Polyjuice potion?

Severus looked at Hermione with forged soul-less eyes.

"Miss Granger. How are you feeling?"

"I...I don't know. She looked down at the ground sorrowfully. "Can we just...go?"

He nodded, raising an inquisitive eyebrow at Ron and Harry's gaping mouths, and Ginny's subsequent dramatic eye-rolling and nudging.

Hermione was right. Being polite is much more fun. He thought to himself.

After apparating from Hogwarts to the Wizarding cemetery - having a witch daughter enabled Anne Granger the right to be buried here - they carefully searched the gravestones. After the war, there had been a number of deaths, and so picking out a relatively new one out of the many was difficult. So now they had to find the buried form of Hermione's mother.

Her ashes, anyway.

It was rather unusual to bury the cremated remains of someone, as it lost the point of a cremation, but since Hermione had not known exactly her mother's wishes, she decided to settle on this, half way between the two options.

And there it was.

The gravestone with her mother's name on it.

The shock to her system was overwhelming. Although she knew full well that it was here, it was the fact that she could see it that scared her. It was physically here, right in front of her. She started to cry, sobs wracking her body.

Severus fought the urge to comfort her. A teacher could not do that. Not here, not now. Later. He promised himself that he would comfort her later, in privacy.

But it hurt him. He thought he would never have to see a child bury their parent. That was why he had fought against Voldemort.

Harry delicately put an arm around her shoulder, whilst the Weasley's looked at each other, at a loss. They decided to leave the two mother-less friends together in their shared pain.

However, Hermione saw it differently.

She shrugged off Harry's arm in a friendly sort of way, and went to Severus, almost automatically.

I guess our plan isn't working then.

His sarcasm did nothing to hide the relief he felt that she had gone to him. He encapsulated her into his arms, and whispered into her ear, comfortingly. The others looked on, gob-smacked. Ron looked furious. It was well known that he still felt for her. He was about to yell at Snape when Harry held him back.

"Not now. This isn't the time. Not for your immature hormonal feelings. She's moved on." He looked sternly at the red-head, who eventually relaxed under his firm grip.

Harry whispered harshly in his friend's ear. "He was the 'people' she'd got help from over the summer. Get it?"

Ron nodded dumbly, still to in awe of the fact that a man old enough to be her father, the evilest man in Hogwarts had won her heart over him...or maybe they were just friends. Ron hoped so.

Hermione readied herself and turned around, not seeing the looks on her friends faces. She stumbled forward, slightly off-balance, and knelt down by the grave. She slowly placed each flower, singularly, saying something for each one that no one else could hear.

After that, she cleared her throat and spoke softly. The others could just about hear her:

"I'm sorry I haven't come to see you mum, but I've been trying to keep myself busy. I'm Head Girl now! Neville's Head Boy! Professor Snape suggested him. I know, I was shocked too, when I first heard.

I've started the second part of my NEWTS courses. I took Potions, Charms, Herbology, Arithmancy and DADA in the end. I know, I know, two more than usual for the final year. I was supposed to drop one last year, let alone this, I know, but still, you know me. Besides, I want to keep busy.

Dad got life. In Azkaban. How good is that? We're finally free from that no-good son of a bitch." She spat out the words, her hatred clearly evident.

"No. I'm free." Her entire tone changed.

"Oh my god. I'm so sorry! I'm the only one who's all right...you're all alone. You suffered the most, and I'm complaining! Oh my god...mum...I'm so sorry."

She began to cry. The trio moved forward to comfort her, Severus stood protectively in front of them, his back to Hermione, and whispered quietly. "Let her have her cry out. She needs to get this off her chest." They nodded silently, Hermione carried on, oblivious.

"Mum. I promise you now. I'll do everything in my power to make sure his life is as horrid and unbearable as he made ours. I love you mum. I miss you!

I miss you so much mum..."

Hermione wiped her bleary red eyes on the sleeve of her cloak, and arose silently, and stared at the grave for a few moments:

ANNE PATRICIA GRANGER

1956-2002

Mother of Hermione Granger

"No matter what happens, they cannot

destroy our spirit, only make it stronger

than before, helping us to carry on,

determinedly."

She turned around shakily, attempting a weak smile. Realisation suddenly dawned on her. She had hugged Severus. In front of the others. But right now she found that she did not care at all.

Ginny saw her friend's horror-stricken face. "Group hug!" Harry and Ron grinned slightly and embraced each other and Ginny, whilst going over to Hermione.

Severus once again felt out of place with over-hormonal teenagers in public spaces - or any spaces, actually - the sight of them all hugging the life out of each other, was rather disconcerting.

I wish I'd had that at school.

He soon changed his mind at the thought of either Lucius Malfoy or Remus Lupin and Sirius Black hugging him. Perhaps not.

Severus looked up from his suddenly very interesting hands to see Harry staring at him over Hermione's shoulder. He looked blatantly from Severus to Hermione, and back again. He raised his eyebrow questioningly, then smiled slightly.

Shit. He knows. Severus returned to looking at his once again enthralling hands, attempting to invoke the bastard-potions-master-Snape.

Where was it?

He could however, find Severus-who-cares-about-Hermione-but-still-wants-to-throttle-her-friends.

Hermione started to cry.

"Thank you" she whispered.

A/N: That quotation on Anne's gravestone isn't actually a quotation. I just made it up as I couldn't think of any poignant ones.