Disclaimer: Blah blah blah…
A/N: Let's get Hermione all straightened out and get her back on course with the enchanting Severus Snape…
Viktor Krum had disappeared. No one knew where he was, he hadn't returned to school, he hadn't gone home. Hermione left the hospital wing a week later, feeling physically healed but still broken inside.
I don't want to face him, I can't. He saw the mess I made of myself. I can't believe I was so stupid. I need to see him though, to thank him. I need to explain about the note and about what happened. He deserves that at least after all he did for me.
Severus Snape had visited her frequently though she didn't know he was there, he came mostly when she slept and watched her figure peaceful under the covers. School was almost over. The seventh years developed a bad case of Spring Fever, and with exams nearly completed, they were scarcely around. He sat in his dungeons and looked up only when he heard a gentle rap on the door.
"Miss Granger! You shouldn't be out of bed. Back to the hospital wing before Poppy skins us both alive."
"It's all right Professor, she let me go today. I just came to… t-to thank you."
"Thank me?"
"Yes, I appreciate all that you did for me when I was making a complete idiot of myself in the floor of your bedroom. I never got to thank you for rescuing me from Viktor."
"I'm afraid I was too late for that Miss Granger."
"Please, after seeing me naked and sleeping in your bed, you can call me by my given name. I feel I owe you an explanation."
"The only think you owe me Miss… Hermione is a speedy recovery. I believe we have some potions work to do."
"Please Professor, I need to tell you about the note."
"If you feel you must… call me Severus."
"All right Severus. I got the owl from Viktor and decided to go and end it once and for all with him. I needed to go to tell him face to face. I thought that I could end it nice and simple. I didn't dream that he would… Anyway, thank you… for everything that you have done and tried to do for me. I owe you my life."
He didn't know what to say. He nodded his head and she turned to walk away.
"Hermione?" he asked.
"Yes?"
"Can I ask you a question?"
"I think you just did, but you may ask another."
"Why did you stay with him all that time? After all that he did to you? Why? I don't understand."
She looked at him intently as she realized that he sincerely wanted, no needed to know from her what she had been asking herself for a year and a half.
"Because no one else loved me, I thought that he might love me. It sounds stupid now but I thought that this was how it was supposed to be. I mean, my father… well, I needed to be loved and Viktor was the only one who wanted to do it."
He didn't know what to say. This was not the answer he expected. He still didn't understand how she could interpret what happened as him loving her but he didn't feel like he should ask any more, not now at least. I could have loved you Hermione. I could have showed you what being loved really means. I could have given you the world. Perhaps, one day you'll let me try.
"I'll see you this afternoon Severus, I suppose we should get to work."
He nodded in agreement as she slowly walked away, no doubt still sore.
The rest of the semester passed quickly and commencement came and went. She was the only student left in the castle, but she really wasn't a student any more. Her work with Snape went well. They worked about six hours a day and she had learned more in a week than she had learned in seven years of Double Potions with the Slytherins. She was calmed. Her dreams only haunted her occasionally but her thoughts were constantly pervaded by the memory of Viktor Krum, who had still managed to allude the entire magic community. Week after week, the images became clearer and clearer as she tried so hard to block him from her mind. She tormented herself with blame and no longer respected any part of herself. It was a blow to herself and to those around her that did care about her, whether she knew it or not.
Does she know that I watch her? I see her working and wonder what it would be like to be with her, body and soul. She tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear and I see her delicate thin fingers working. She thumbs through the books, her right eye closes slightly in the corner when she's thinking about something. She doesn't see you as anything but her teacher.
They worked endlessly together from early in the morning until the evening rarely stopping for anything. She was relieved that she didn't have to eat.
"Hermione, let's have some lunch."
"No thank you, I-I'm fine really."
"You really should eat, when was the last time you had anything?" he inquired.
"Um…" she couldn't lie to him, she didn't know why.
"Why don't you eat something? Here, try this." He handed her half a sandwich and she just looked at it.
"Viktor said I'm too fat now."
He looked at her enraged. "Viktor is a fool, you're lovely Hermione, don't even think on it." She took the sandwich from him and nervously took a bite of it. It tasted so good.
Three hours later they were still working in the dungeons.
"I don't understand. This is totally preposterous! This will not work." She rubbed her sore neck with one hand and rested her forehead in the other. Severus walked up behind her and began to slowly massage her shoulders.
"Perhaps if we substituted the Cornish warthog hair for the Yak belly hair it might work."
She sank back in her chair and let his hands work her neck and shoulders. She bent her head down toward her chest and enjoyed the touch of his hands on her neck.
"That feels so good. I think I slept wrong last night or something."
He moved his hands from the back of her shoulders to her collarbones then running his hands down her arms. While she enjoyed his touch, she momentarily saw Viktor grabbing her and throwing her to the bed. He sensed her tense and he moved away from her.
"We've been working so hard. Why don't we go out tomorrow? Maybe Hogsmeade for lunch and take a walk?"
Hogsmeade. "I-I… um…"
"What is it?"
"I can't."
"Why not?" Then it hit him. You fool! Of course she doesn't want to go to Hogsmeade with you. She's probably only thinking of one thing. How stupid can you be! "You won't have anything to worry about Hermione, it is just I, the mean old Potions professor."
She covered her mouth with her hand as she smiled. "All right, I suppose."
"Excellent. We'll go tomorrow at 9. Get yourself to bed now and get some rest, you look tired."
"Okay. I'll see you in the morning." She gathered her books and notes and headed back to her rooms. Please Viktor, let me sleep tonight…
A/N: Did I mention that there was a nun munching on popcorn at the cinema the last time I went to see CoS? Well, in case I didn't, there was this nun munching on popcorn at the cinema sitting two rows down from me the last time I saw CoS…
