CONFRONTATIONS( Part 1)
It had been a week since they had arrived at Hogwarts. It had easily been one of most trying weeks of Hermione's life! The most disquieting thing about that time was the absolutely baffled state she found herself in. For the first time in her life Hermione wasn't sure about a thing…..she felt completely lost. Her different roles …… her roles as a mother….as a wife…as a Teacher …as an example setter….as a friend….as a lover….and more….they were taxing on her mental equilibrium……..It had all begun from the moment she had entered her former school…..so many happy faces …..smiling at her…..innumerable hugs……loving words……even tearful eyes….it was homecoming in the true sense….but a part of her was so restless…..looking for him…yet hoping not to meet him….and mercifully he had not appeared…..that is not till the evening feast to celebrate the new arrivals! They were all in the midst of laughing…joking,teasing,eating and drinking…..the atmosphere happy and light …..when she had felt the air suddenly electrify….she had turned only to find those black unfathomable depths which had generated a jolt to her stomach…… a strange sense of sinking in the deep waters which she hadn't been able to get over since then……..
There he was standing in the doorway of the great hall……..impeccably dressed in black….looking much younger than the last time she saw him…….his striking , daunting self as ever…. but something had changed about him……something indescribable ………and if anything it had just added to her attraction towards him….there seemed more intensity around him…..something frightening…..as if a dynamo was churning his insides…ready to explode …….she was just losing herself in him when a voice roused her…..
"There you are Severus …atlast ! Where have you been hiding yourself all day ?" Asked Dumbledore in his twinkling all knowing way.
There was a sudden quiet in the hall…all the heads turning towards him at Dumbledore's announcement…..and then everyone started talking again…some greeting him…some makings some casual remarks……Lupin moved towards him….placed his hand on his shoulder and took him away towards Tonks and soon afterwards they seemed lost to the world……and everything was the same….but not quite……not for her atleast…….she couldn't bear it any longer….she had to get away somehow…anyhow……..
She moved away purposefully towards Draco….he was already looking in a concerned sort of way at her……
She reached him and said in breathless voice ……a voice she couldn't believe was her own…
"Sara is alone….it's a new place for her, though Minnie seems wonderful with her….she might be missing me, and I am also quite tired….I think I will retire for the night."
"Shall I….."He began to say looking more than concerned by now….
"Oh no , that wouldn't look nice what with the party in full swing and all…atleast one of us should stay here, just make excuses for me and all…will you?" she said touching his arm.
"Ofcourse I will, and I am sure everyone will understand. You just go ahead, ok?"
"Hmmm." She nodded her head not quite able to look him in the eye.
He placed a quick kiss on her forehead…….she looked at him gratefully…..and then abruptly turned to leave,trying to make an inconspicuous exit…not quite feeling upto saying goodbyes….
And she had almost achieved her goal, when a dark figure crossed her path… blocking the light and obstructing her way…….she didn't have to look up to know who it would be……every cell in her body tense…she looked up…..there was a half smile on his lips and something inscrutable in his eyes…..
"Miss Granger!" he bowed mockingly.
"Mrs. Malfoy!" she bit out tersely.
"So be it!" he shrugged nonchalantly.
"Not trying to leave us are you? After all it is a gathering in your honor ! Not quite the proper thing to leave so soon , that too so surreptitiously is it?" He whispered his tone still mocking.
Unable to bear this intimacy with him…..she just wanted to run away…..
"My daughter is alone and waiting for me." She said hastily trying to shock him , but was baffled herself by his next remark
"Surely you have not left a four-year-old on her own ,have you?"
" So he had known about Sara!" she thought dazedly
"No, there is a house-elf looking after her ,but….." she tried to speak quite at a loss now…
"Then don't deprive us of your company , will you?" he murmured, his voice coaxing, his hand already on her back trying to turn her back…….by now she had lost all her powers to think, completely immersed in the new sensations enveloping her…….
Her trance was only broken by the appearance of her husband, as soon as they turned around.
"Hermione dear , you are still here? Weren't you just leaving to have a look at Sara now, love?" he asked looking meaningfully at her.
"I…um…was just… uh.. leaving ." She managed to reply, though her throat felt extremely constricted.
"Draco." Snape nodded at him , acknowledging his presence first.
"Professor Snape." He nodded coldly.
"If you are so worried about your daughter why don't you go and check up on her? I am sure there are many people waiting to have the pleasure of Hermione's company." He said his voice dripping with ice.
Her name rolling of his tongue made her a bit light-headed and completely unable to respond, though she could sense the tension mounting up between the two men.
" How we arrange such things as these concerning our Family are totally our business and nobody else's, I am sure!"Draco replied looking quite ready to explode by now.
Snape had just opened his mouth in a vicious kind of way, presumably to retort…..when a house-elf came running at them….
"Master Draco….Missus Hermione…..Sara baby is very upset,she just having woke up and in a new place and as she don't find her mama and papa,she being very angry and crying, Minnie very scared to leave her and come so she send Dobby to you. Please you both be coming quick with Dobby "
Hearing this Draco forgot everything and ran back with Dobby, Hermione looked furtively at her former Professor before running after him.
And Snape was left there staring at their receding forms darkly ………..