Title: An Inevitable Fate
Chapter Fourteen: Avoidance and Regret?
Author: KissThis -- Rating: R - maybe later...if I feel like it.
Pairing: On rocky ground...
Setting: 6th year in Hogwarts. -- Disclaimer: Do I own Harry Potter? *shakes her broken Magic 8 Ball* **rattling noise** ***tips it upside-down to read what the fortune dice says*** "Ask again later."
--
A/N: I know that the end of the last chapter seemed to have no tie-in with the plot but I REALLY wanted to elaborate on Snape and his relationship with Hermione. I love Sevvy...he's just misunderstood. But there's just something about saving each other's lives that really brings people together.
A/N2: I had some reviews of last chapter saying that it was a bit confusing. A fact which I will try to rectify, if not in this chapter, than in others.
A/N3: Special Thanks: To Evangeline1! You've won the Favorite Review award for chapter thirteen!
P.S. Woah! I just read your author's profile and all I can say is "creepy". I had to memorize that poem by Robert Frost and it's also one of my favorites.
--
Draco slammed open the Potion's room door and sidestepped inside carrying his heavy pewter cauldron in both arms. Hermione heard the loud bang over her own vociferous laughter. Her heads spun quickly around making her hair fan out behind her and then float to a stop over one eye. Her face fell and her laughter died.
Snape looked from Hermione to Draco and then to the students in the hallway who were making a beeline for the classroom. Hermione felt her professor's shields go down without even turning. She knew instinctively the moment that he adopted the hunching of his shoulders that gave him a unapproachable look and when she did turn around it was just in time to see him twist his thin lips into the scowl that many suspected never left his face.
Hermione promptly slid off the edge of the desk and gathered her book bag and cloak off of the chair from which she had earlier discarded them upon. She gave her professor a tight-lipped smile, "Thank you for speaking with me, Professor. I've just gotten the loveliest idea."
Snape stood up and nodded, "See you in a few days Miss Granger. Stay safe." he added in an undertone.
Hermione nodded quickly and turned away from Snape. Keeping her eyes to the ground she walked quickly past Draco, who had opened his mouth to speak but was unable to do so before Hermione had disappeared around the corner. Draco slowly shuffled over to his desk and dropped his cauldron upon it all the while darting confused looks to the last place where he had seen Hermione.
"Professor?" He voiced in perplexity.
Snape sat back down in his seat. With a short sigh he set about resuming the task that had absorbed him so utterly before a young woman had completely and effortlessly drawn him from his sheltered and consistent routine. Clearing his throat harshly he addressed the Slytherin in a disinterested tone, "You'll be working alone today, Mister Malfoy."
Hermione cursed at herself. She shouldn't have dawdled so long. Forcibly pushing Draco's face from her mind she struggled to keep herself focused on where she was going. Though she didn't notice it, Hermione was so focused on her destination that she quite forgot the journey. Students actually had to leap out of the way to keep from being trampled beneath her obsessively polished Mary Janes.
Hermoine walked on instinct. Robotic-like she jogged up staircases and ducked around corners as if running on mechanic reflex. She had just reached the main hall with a hand outstretched, reaching for the door, when the bell for class rang. It echoed loudly in the empty entrance hall -- enough so, to make her eardrums pound.
With each piercing chime Draco's face become more prominent in her mind.
The ground vibrated under her feet with the sound and traveled up her knees. They turned weak and wobbly with the strength of strawberry jello. Hermione felt herself falling and barely managed to grab a hold of the doorknob thus preventing an almost surely painful encounter between her knees and the hard, stone floor. She looked down at her hand that was slowly blurring and fading before her eyes. Warm orbs of moisture fell from those hazy eyes and splashed against her forearm. The sleeve of her customary black robe had slid down to her elbow leaving the tiny tears to fall upon creamy, bare skin.
I feel like such a bad person... Hermione thought to herself.
She had taken the coward's way out. She had left before he had even awoken, without even pausing to think. She hadn't even considered waiting to talk with him about it. She had just run away. But maybe she had done so out of concern - concern for their friendship. She certainly hadn't left hoping that in doing so she would cause him pain. No, that was the last thing she had wanted to do...and yet it had happened anyway.
"I slept with Draco..." she whispered to herself. As if in sync with her emotions, an exceptionally large tear fell from the corner of her eye and rolled down her cheek coming to a stop just beneath her chin. Sadness welled up inside of her and she was hard-pressed to choke down the sob that was trying to free itself from the confines of her throat. Tear-stained lips quivered and the crystalline bead fell from her chin and disappeared upon the voluminous folds of her robes.
Nothing will ever be the same...
Her hand twisted slightly and the door was flung open. A wild wind swept into the entrance hall and disrupted everything it laid its icy claws upon. Hermione stood fast looking to a casual observer as if she didn't even feel the torrents of wind that twisted her chestnut curls into tangled knots above her head. Nor did she feel it pulling so tightly at her clothes that the buttons on her robe were strained to popping. With her tear-stained face to the gathering storm she walked out onto the grounds to meet Professor Hooch. Behind her the large wooden door of the castle banged helplessly open again.
Hermione parted with Tonks and Moody feeling much better than she had at the start of her day. Stepping out into the hallway she pocketed her wand. Sweat still trickled down her face and when she swiped the back of her palm across her forehead she felt the wisps of hair that had frizzed about her head during training. Compulsively, she matted down her hair and ran her fingers through it attempting to restore some semblance of order.
With her body radiating enough heat for two, Hermione vetoed the idea of pulling her robe back on and settled instead for draping it over her arm before starting down to dinner.
When she stepped off the stairs onto the second floor a door off to her right closed simultaneously making her look up. Professor McGonagall had just exited her classroom and was heading towards the descending staircase -- most likely on her way to dinner as well. McGonagall was the last professor she needed to talk to and since the opportunity had presented itself Hermione picked up her pace and caught up to the older woman at the top of the staircase.
"Professor!" She called out just before she skidded to a stop next to her.
McGonagall gave a small smile and started slowly down the stairs. The incident during Hermione's fifth year had left her favorite professor a little weaker and a little older.
"Miss Granger," she said in the raspy yet confident voice Hermione had come to associate as unique only to her. "Come to escort me down to dinner?"
"Of course Professor," Hermione replied smoothly over the wind howling against the window, "I was also hoping to talk with you in private."
McGonagall nodded slowly, "Leaving already, hmm?" She asked shrewdly.
Hermione had to blink back her surprise and almost dropped the supporting hand she had placed beneath her teacher's elbow. "How-?"
McGonagall scoffed, "It's in your eyes, dear. I knew from the beginning that you would leave," she sighed. "I just hoped it wouldn't have been so soon."
"Time is short, Professor."
"Ah, yes! But it's what you do with the time that is given to you that makes all the difference, Miss Granger."
Hermione rolled her eyes, "But that's exactly why I have to go. Wars aren't won by sitting around on your backside."
They reached the bottom of the staircase and Hermione released her helping hand. McGonagall turned to her and stared down at her with wizened eyes. "No, you're quite right." The corners of her lips twitched into a faint smile. "They're won by people like you..."
Hermione turned a delicate shade of pink to which she was very much entitled. McGonagall wasn't known for throwing out words of praise at just anyone.
"T-thank you, professor."
McGonagall nodded curtly and started towards the Great Hall doors. Suddenly remembering the reason she had caught up with her professor, Hermione jumped forward and stopped her with a hand on her arm.
"Professor. I was hoping that I could get my homework in advance...f- for the days I'll be missing."
McGonagall's brow furrowed. "You're not leaving tomorrow, are you?"
"Tonight, actually."
"Nonsense, Hermione." McGonagall clicked her tongue in disapproval. "You shouldn't be going out in weather like this." As if to accentuate the witch's argument a particularly loud bang of thunder followed her statement filling the empty entrance chamber with booming vibrations. "At least wait until the morning -- everything will be clearer then."
Hermione shook her head. Her nose furrowed in mild distaste as her sweat-streaked ponytail grazed the side of her face.
"The weather can't be helped, Professor. I really think things should be started as soon as possible."
"Hmmm..." McGonagall's frown deepened, "Are you really set on doing this tonight?"
Hermione nodded assuredly, "Everything's set."
McGonagall's shoulders seemed to sag with extra fatigue and she gave a resigned sort of sigh. "I see nothing that can stop you."
Hermione smiled softly and opened the door to the Great Hall. "Thank you, Professor."
Hermione held the door open long enough for McGonagall to walk through and then closed it behind her as she followed her professor into the chattering Hall.
"I trust you will have an escort?" Her voice was quiet enough so that it didn't attract the attention of the dining students, but loud enough to be heard over the din.
"I'll be in safe hands, if that's what you were wondering."
"You shouldn't assume things, Miss Granger." McGonagall said haughtily. Hermione laughed for she could see the embarrassment hidden behind her professor's spectacles at being caught.
"Anyway, I'm leaving at midnight." Hermione said changing the conversation.
"I'll make sure to send your homework up before then. You may sit down now, Miss Granger," she told her stoutly.
Hermione chuckled and nodded before peeling off in the direction of the Gryffindor table, "Enjoy your dinner, Professor."
Hermione hurried over to where her friends were sitting and took the seat next to Harry they had saved for her. She gave them both a quick grin before reaching for bowl of broccoli.
Harry made a disgusted face and ducked away from Hermione and her outstretched arm. "Oy! 'Mione you stink!"
This earned him a smack upside the head.
Ron laughed and took another bite of his roll, "Yeh, 'ione. Wa werned oo 'n oceans." He asked through a mouthful of food.
It was Hermione's turn to look disgusted and she could only hope that he hadn't sprayed little bits of bread into her hair.
"Honestly, Ron. How many times -- don't talk with your mouth full!"
"She has a point, mate." Harry added with a small grimace of his own. "I definitely do not need to see your pre-digested food while I'm eating."
Hermione set the vegetables back down with a slight shake of her head, "I couldn't even understand what he asked me."
Harry grabbed a pork chop off the platter and set it down on his golden plate. "Believe it or not, that's usually the case."
"I'M SITTING RIGHT HERE!" Ron exclaimed.
Both Hermione and Harry burst into loud laughter.
"I think he asked why you weren't in Potions," Harry supplied between chuckles.
Hermione took a drink of juice to sooth her parched throat and wiped at her mouth. Still giggling slightly she explained, "I know. I had things that needed to be taken care of before I left tonight."
"Leaving?"
"Where?!"
The looks on their face were laughable to say the least. "I'm going to meet with the Ministry and then I'm off to France."
"What's in France?" Ron stuck out his tongue.
Hermione's nose scrunched up in thought. She didn't want to give away too much of her plan before she knew if it would even work. "A friend."
R & R!
Ok.I know...only 10 pages long. Sorry! I just thought it was a good stopping point. I'll try to update as soon as possible, but school starts next Monday and I have someone's sweet 16 tomorrow.
If someone can guess who the friend in France is I'll give you.......a cookie!
KissThis
Chapter Fourteen: Avoidance and Regret?
Author: KissThis -- Rating: R - maybe later...if I feel like it.
Pairing: On rocky ground...
Setting: 6th year in Hogwarts. -- Disclaimer: Do I own Harry Potter? *shakes her broken Magic 8 Ball* **rattling noise** ***tips it upside-down to read what the fortune dice says*** "Ask again later."
--
A/N: I know that the end of the last chapter seemed to have no tie-in with the plot but I REALLY wanted to elaborate on Snape and his relationship with Hermione. I love Sevvy...he's just misunderstood. But there's just something about saving each other's lives that really brings people together.
A/N2: I had some reviews of last chapter saying that it was a bit confusing. A fact which I will try to rectify, if not in this chapter, than in others.
A/N3: Special Thanks: To Evangeline1! You've won the Favorite Review award for chapter thirteen!
P.S. Woah! I just read your author's profile and all I can say is "creepy". I had to memorize that poem by Robert Frost and it's also one of my favorites.
--
Draco slammed open the Potion's room door and sidestepped inside carrying his heavy pewter cauldron in both arms. Hermione heard the loud bang over her own vociferous laughter. Her heads spun quickly around making her hair fan out behind her and then float to a stop over one eye. Her face fell and her laughter died.
Snape looked from Hermione to Draco and then to the students in the hallway who were making a beeline for the classroom. Hermione felt her professor's shields go down without even turning. She knew instinctively the moment that he adopted the hunching of his shoulders that gave him a unapproachable look and when she did turn around it was just in time to see him twist his thin lips into the scowl that many suspected never left his face.
Hermione promptly slid off the edge of the desk and gathered her book bag and cloak off of the chair from which she had earlier discarded them upon. She gave her professor a tight-lipped smile, "Thank you for speaking with me, Professor. I've just gotten the loveliest idea."
Snape stood up and nodded, "See you in a few days Miss Granger. Stay safe." he added in an undertone.
Hermione nodded quickly and turned away from Snape. Keeping her eyes to the ground she walked quickly past Draco, who had opened his mouth to speak but was unable to do so before Hermione had disappeared around the corner. Draco slowly shuffled over to his desk and dropped his cauldron upon it all the while darting confused looks to the last place where he had seen Hermione.
"Professor?" He voiced in perplexity.
Snape sat back down in his seat. With a short sigh he set about resuming the task that had absorbed him so utterly before a young woman had completely and effortlessly drawn him from his sheltered and consistent routine. Clearing his throat harshly he addressed the Slytherin in a disinterested tone, "You'll be working alone today, Mister Malfoy."
Hermione cursed at herself. She shouldn't have dawdled so long. Forcibly pushing Draco's face from her mind she struggled to keep herself focused on where she was going. Though she didn't notice it, Hermione was so focused on her destination that she quite forgot the journey. Students actually had to leap out of the way to keep from being trampled beneath her obsessively polished Mary Janes.
Hermoine walked on instinct. Robotic-like she jogged up staircases and ducked around corners as if running on mechanic reflex. She had just reached the main hall with a hand outstretched, reaching for the door, when the bell for class rang. It echoed loudly in the empty entrance hall -- enough so, to make her eardrums pound.
With each piercing chime Draco's face become more prominent in her mind.
The ground vibrated under her feet with the sound and traveled up her knees. They turned weak and wobbly with the strength of strawberry jello. Hermione felt herself falling and barely managed to grab a hold of the doorknob thus preventing an almost surely painful encounter between her knees and the hard, stone floor. She looked down at her hand that was slowly blurring and fading before her eyes. Warm orbs of moisture fell from those hazy eyes and splashed against her forearm. The sleeve of her customary black robe had slid down to her elbow leaving the tiny tears to fall upon creamy, bare skin.
I feel like such a bad person... Hermione thought to herself.
She had taken the coward's way out. She had left before he had even awoken, without even pausing to think. She hadn't even considered waiting to talk with him about it. She had just run away. But maybe she had done so out of concern - concern for their friendship. She certainly hadn't left hoping that in doing so she would cause him pain. No, that was the last thing she had wanted to do...and yet it had happened anyway.
"I slept with Draco..." she whispered to herself. As if in sync with her emotions, an exceptionally large tear fell from the corner of her eye and rolled down her cheek coming to a stop just beneath her chin. Sadness welled up inside of her and she was hard-pressed to choke down the sob that was trying to free itself from the confines of her throat. Tear-stained lips quivered and the crystalline bead fell from her chin and disappeared upon the voluminous folds of her robes.
Nothing will ever be the same...
Her hand twisted slightly and the door was flung open. A wild wind swept into the entrance hall and disrupted everything it laid its icy claws upon. Hermione stood fast looking to a casual observer as if she didn't even feel the torrents of wind that twisted her chestnut curls into tangled knots above her head. Nor did she feel it pulling so tightly at her clothes that the buttons on her robe were strained to popping. With her tear-stained face to the gathering storm she walked out onto the grounds to meet Professor Hooch. Behind her the large wooden door of the castle banged helplessly open again.
Hermione parted with Tonks and Moody feeling much better than she had at the start of her day. Stepping out into the hallway she pocketed her wand. Sweat still trickled down her face and when she swiped the back of her palm across her forehead she felt the wisps of hair that had frizzed about her head during training. Compulsively, she matted down her hair and ran her fingers through it attempting to restore some semblance of order.
With her body radiating enough heat for two, Hermione vetoed the idea of pulling her robe back on and settled instead for draping it over her arm before starting down to dinner.
When she stepped off the stairs onto the second floor a door off to her right closed simultaneously making her look up. Professor McGonagall had just exited her classroom and was heading towards the descending staircase -- most likely on her way to dinner as well. McGonagall was the last professor she needed to talk to and since the opportunity had presented itself Hermione picked up her pace and caught up to the older woman at the top of the staircase.
"Professor!" She called out just before she skidded to a stop next to her.
McGonagall gave a small smile and started slowly down the stairs. The incident during Hermione's fifth year had left her favorite professor a little weaker and a little older.
"Miss Granger," she said in the raspy yet confident voice Hermione had come to associate as unique only to her. "Come to escort me down to dinner?"
"Of course Professor," Hermione replied smoothly over the wind howling against the window, "I was also hoping to talk with you in private."
McGonagall nodded slowly, "Leaving already, hmm?" She asked shrewdly.
Hermione had to blink back her surprise and almost dropped the supporting hand she had placed beneath her teacher's elbow. "How-?"
McGonagall scoffed, "It's in your eyes, dear. I knew from the beginning that you would leave," she sighed. "I just hoped it wouldn't have been so soon."
"Time is short, Professor."
"Ah, yes! But it's what you do with the time that is given to you that makes all the difference, Miss Granger."
Hermione rolled her eyes, "But that's exactly why I have to go. Wars aren't won by sitting around on your backside."
They reached the bottom of the staircase and Hermione released her helping hand. McGonagall turned to her and stared down at her with wizened eyes. "No, you're quite right." The corners of her lips twitched into a faint smile. "They're won by people like you..."
Hermione turned a delicate shade of pink to which she was very much entitled. McGonagall wasn't known for throwing out words of praise at just anyone.
"T-thank you, professor."
McGonagall nodded curtly and started towards the Great Hall doors. Suddenly remembering the reason she had caught up with her professor, Hermione jumped forward and stopped her with a hand on her arm.
"Professor. I was hoping that I could get my homework in advance...f- for the days I'll be missing."
McGonagall's brow furrowed. "You're not leaving tomorrow, are you?"
"Tonight, actually."
"Nonsense, Hermione." McGonagall clicked her tongue in disapproval. "You shouldn't be going out in weather like this." As if to accentuate the witch's argument a particularly loud bang of thunder followed her statement filling the empty entrance chamber with booming vibrations. "At least wait until the morning -- everything will be clearer then."
Hermione shook her head. Her nose furrowed in mild distaste as her sweat-streaked ponytail grazed the side of her face.
"The weather can't be helped, Professor. I really think things should be started as soon as possible."
"Hmmm..." McGonagall's frown deepened, "Are you really set on doing this tonight?"
Hermione nodded assuredly, "Everything's set."
McGonagall's shoulders seemed to sag with extra fatigue and she gave a resigned sort of sigh. "I see nothing that can stop you."
Hermione smiled softly and opened the door to the Great Hall. "Thank you, Professor."
Hermione held the door open long enough for McGonagall to walk through and then closed it behind her as she followed her professor into the chattering Hall.
"I trust you will have an escort?" Her voice was quiet enough so that it didn't attract the attention of the dining students, but loud enough to be heard over the din.
"I'll be in safe hands, if that's what you were wondering."
"You shouldn't assume things, Miss Granger." McGonagall said haughtily. Hermione laughed for she could see the embarrassment hidden behind her professor's spectacles at being caught.
"Anyway, I'm leaving at midnight." Hermione said changing the conversation.
"I'll make sure to send your homework up before then. You may sit down now, Miss Granger," she told her stoutly.
Hermione chuckled and nodded before peeling off in the direction of the Gryffindor table, "Enjoy your dinner, Professor."
Hermione hurried over to where her friends were sitting and took the seat next to Harry they had saved for her. She gave them both a quick grin before reaching for bowl of broccoli.
Harry made a disgusted face and ducked away from Hermione and her outstretched arm. "Oy! 'Mione you stink!"
This earned him a smack upside the head.
Ron laughed and took another bite of his roll, "Yeh, 'ione. Wa werned oo 'n oceans." He asked through a mouthful of food.
It was Hermione's turn to look disgusted and she could only hope that he hadn't sprayed little bits of bread into her hair.
"Honestly, Ron. How many times -- don't talk with your mouth full!"
"She has a point, mate." Harry added with a small grimace of his own. "I definitely do not need to see your pre-digested food while I'm eating."
Hermione set the vegetables back down with a slight shake of her head, "I couldn't even understand what he asked me."
Harry grabbed a pork chop off the platter and set it down on his golden plate. "Believe it or not, that's usually the case."
"I'M SITTING RIGHT HERE!" Ron exclaimed.
Both Hermione and Harry burst into loud laughter.
"I think he asked why you weren't in Potions," Harry supplied between chuckles.
Hermione took a drink of juice to sooth her parched throat and wiped at her mouth. Still giggling slightly she explained, "I know. I had things that needed to be taken care of before I left tonight."
"Leaving?"
"Where?!"
The looks on their face were laughable to say the least. "I'm going to meet with the Ministry and then I'm off to France."
"What's in France?" Ron stuck out his tongue.
Hermione's nose scrunched up in thought. She didn't want to give away too much of her plan before she knew if it would even work. "A friend."
R & R!
Ok.I know...only 10 pages long. Sorry! I just thought it was a good stopping point. I'll try to update as soon as possible, but school starts next Monday and I have someone's sweet 16 tomorrow.
If someone can guess who the friend in France is I'll give you.......a cookie!
KissThis