Chapter 2
After getting over her initial shock of that first evening with her former professor, Hermione quickly settled into a routine of meeting Severus after class on Fridays. They would head to dinner, and afterwards, to the Staff Lounge to play a round of Wizard's Chess. More often than not, he would beat her, but on the rare occasion, she would win. She had the sneaking suspicion that he let her win, just so that she would not stop playing chess with him. One night, she brought her portable radio/CD player into the staff lounge. Harry had owled her the new Brad Paisley CD-knowing how much she adored American country music. Snape wondered what he was letting himself in for listening to muggle music.
She played the CD low in the background until one mournful song came on. She checked the case to see the name of the song. It was a duet with Alison Krauss, titled Whiskey Lullaby. Feeling slightly emotional, she took her handkerchief from her robe pocket and wiped her nose. Snape raised his eyebrow "What possibly could you be snuffling at?"
She looked at him and sighed "You just don't understand. It's a SAD song. He drinks himself to death over losing her, and then she realizes what she's lost and drinks herself to death in order to join him. Here, read the lyrics of the song-maybe it will make sense to you after that."
Whiskey Lullaby Alison Krauss and Brad Paisley (Bill Anderson/Jon Randall)
She put him out like the burnin' end of a midnight cigarette She broke his heart he spent his whole life tryin' to forget We watched him drink his pain away a little at a time But he never could get drunk enough to get her off his mind Until the night
1st Chorus He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger And finally drank away her memory Life is short but this time it was bigger Than the strength he had to get up off his knees We found him with his face down in the pillow With a note that said I'll love her till I die And when we buried him beneath the willow The angels sang a whiskey lullaby
The rumors flew but nobody knew how much she blamed herself For years and years she tried to hide the whiskey on her breath She finally drank her pain away a little at a time But she never could get drunk enough to get him off her mind Until the night
2nd Chorus She put that bottle to her head and pulled the trigger And finally drank away his memory Life is short but this time it was bigger Than the strength she had to get up off her knees We found her with her face down in the pillow Clinging to his picture for dear life We laid her next to him beneath the willow While the angels sang a whiskey lullaby
Snape scoffed, "Surely you are joking Hermione. A man would never drink himself to death over such an absurd concept as love. I don't think a man would be stupid enough to drink himself to death over any subject except maybe complete stupidity."
Hermione just rolled her eyes and muttered "I should have expected you wouldn't understand something so simple as true love."
Snape looked at her-slightly taken aback. Surely this.... girl... didn't think he didn't know what love was. He had been in love; well okay-it was only once or twice-but still. "You are not suggesting that I do not understand what love is, I hope" he said rather sulkily.
She looked at him. "That is exactly what I am suggesting. If you had been in love, you would understand the pain that the man is going through-I agree-it is probably stupid to drink yourself to death over such an absurd concept. But if you understand what it is like to lose someone you care about more than anything, then you can understand why this guy didn't want to go on living if he couldn't have her. Or does the wizarding world not think that way when it comes to love lost?"
At that point, Minerva intervened. "Hermione, yes, some of us do understand what it is like to lose someone, and to feel as if the world has come to a crashing end. Just some people have hardened their hearts so as not to feel that, well, passionate, about anything." Minerva turned and glared Snape.
"Well, I can see I'm going to lose this battle, if you ladies will excuse me. I have a potions experiment to attend to." Snape got up and swept out of the room.
Hermione was left gaping after him. She soon realized she was actually going to have won the game on her own, if he hadn't stormed out of the room. Minerva sank down into the chair across from her and studied the board. "Hermione, you do understand that his life is rather private and none of us know what trials and tribulations he has gone through. Especially when he was spying on Voldemort."
Hermione looked at her former professor and head of house and said "Yes, I know, Prof...er...Minerva. But he gets me so frustrated! He can be so, well surprisingly, nice one moment and completely exasperating the next. I'd be surprised if that man had ever had a serious relationship-as aloof as he is!"
Minerva bit her tongue, realizing that if she didn't, she would point out that Severus had spent more time with Hermione than she had ever seen him spend with any other professor in the Staff Lounge on Friday nights. Normally, as soon as Friday dinner ended-he would head off to his damned dungeons and hide until it was late enough to catch the students in some type of mischief. Minerva and Albus realized what was going on, even if Hermione was blind to the looks Snape would surreptitiously give her. She only hoped that Hermione would soon understand what kind of man Severus was, underneath his cold exterior. She truly did not want to see either one of them get hurt.
Snape stormed down the steps to his dungeons. He encountered a student in his off limits corridor and took pleasure in deducting 50 housepoints from Ravenclaw.
He lowered the wards to his rooms, then raised them again to prevent Minerva or the Headmaster from paying him an unexpected visit. He then allowed himself to remember a particularly humiliating incident from his past.
She had been a vision of loveliness in her purple dress robes. He had gone over to ask her to dance and she looked down her nose and began to laugh. After all those months of admiring her from afar and hoping against hope that she would accept his proposal, he was rather shocked when she laughed. "Is that a yes or a no?" He stupidly asked.
"Surely you don't think I would lower myself to dance with a greasy git like you? Pureblood or no." The girl looked at her friends who had also burst out laughing.
He took off outside with his face a flaming red. Right then and there-he swore he would never fall in love-no matter what.
He shook his head. The girl ended up going on to become one of Voldemort's loyal followers. She died in the war due to her egotistic, narcissistic.... Well, there's no use going on. He knew deep down that Hermione was nothing like that girl from his past, but he still could remember the humiliation. Yes, he could certainly understand why that stupid muggle would drink himself to death. The humiliation factor, if nothing else. He certainly had wanted to hide his head under the covers and die the next morning, especially after her friends had spread the story to his entire house and they ragged him all the next day over her rejection.
How dare Hermione think he had no idea what love was.
After getting over her initial shock of that first evening with her former professor, Hermione quickly settled into a routine of meeting Severus after class on Fridays. They would head to dinner, and afterwards, to the Staff Lounge to play a round of Wizard's Chess. More often than not, he would beat her, but on the rare occasion, she would win. She had the sneaking suspicion that he let her win, just so that she would not stop playing chess with him. One night, she brought her portable radio/CD player into the staff lounge. Harry had owled her the new Brad Paisley CD-knowing how much she adored American country music. Snape wondered what he was letting himself in for listening to muggle music.
She played the CD low in the background until one mournful song came on. She checked the case to see the name of the song. It was a duet with Alison Krauss, titled Whiskey Lullaby. Feeling slightly emotional, she took her handkerchief from her robe pocket and wiped her nose. Snape raised his eyebrow "What possibly could you be snuffling at?"
She looked at him and sighed "You just don't understand. It's a SAD song. He drinks himself to death over losing her, and then she realizes what she's lost and drinks herself to death in order to join him. Here, read the lyrics of the song-maybe it will make sense to you after that."
Whiskey Lullaby Alison Krauss and Brad Paisley (Bill Anderson/Jon Randall)
She put him out like the burnin' end of a midnight cigarette She broke his heart he spent his whole life tryin' to forget We watched him drink his pain away a little at a time But he never could get drunk enough to get her off his mind Until the night
1st Chorus He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger And finally drank away her memory Life is short but this time it was bigger Than the strength he had to get up off his knees We found him with his face down in the pillow With a note that said I'll love her till I die And when we buried him beneath the willow The angels sang a whiskey lullaby
The rumors flew but nobody knew how much she blamed herself For years and years she tried to hide the whiskey on her breath She finally drank her pain away a little at a time But she never could get drunk enough to get him off her mind Until the night
2nd Chorus She put that bottle to her head and pulled the trigger And finally drank away his memory Life is short but this time it was bigger Than the strength she had to get up off her knees We found her with her face down in the pillow Clinging to his picture for dear life We laid her next to him beneath the willow While the angels sang a whiskey lullaby
Snape scoffed, "Surely you are joking Hermione. A man would never drink himself to death over such an absurd concept as love. I don't think a man would be stupid enough to drink himself to death over any subject except maybe complete stupidity."
Hermione just rolled her eyes and muttered "I should have expected you wouldn't understand something so simple as true love."
Snape looked at her-slightly taken aback. Surely this.... girl... didn't think he didn't know what love was. He had been in love; well okay-it was only once or twice-but still. "You are not suggesting that I do not understand what love is, I hope" he said rather sulkily.
She looked at him. "That is exactly what I am suggesting. If you had been in love, you would understand the pain that the man is going through-I agree-it is probably stupid to drink yourself to death over such an absurd concept. But if you understand what it is like to lose someone you care about more than anything, then you can understand why this guy didn't want to go on living if he couldn't have her. Or does the wizarding world not think that way when it comes to love lost?"
At that point, Minerva intervened. "Hermione, yes, some of us do understand what it is like to lose someone, and to feel as if the world has come to a crashing end. Just some people have hardened their hearts so as not to feel that, well, passionate, about anything." Minerva turned and glared Snape.
"Well, I can see I'm going to lose this battle, if you ladies will excuse me. I have a potions experiment to attend to." Snape got up and swept out of the room.
Hermione was left gaping after him. She soon realized she was actually going to have won the game on her own, if he hadn't stormed out of the room. Minerva sank down into the chair across from her and studied the board. "Hermione, you do understand that his life is rather private and none of us know what trials and tribulations he has gone through. Especially when he was spying on Voldemort."
Hermione looked at her former professor and head of house and said "Yes, I know, Prof...er...Minerva. But he gets me so frustrated! He can be so, well surprisingly, nice one moment and completely exasperating the next. I'd be surprised if that man had ever had a serious relationship-as aloof as he is!"
Minerva bit her tongue, realizing that if she didn't, she would point out that Severus had spent more time with Hermione than she had ever seen him spend with any other professor in the Staff Lounge on Friday nights. Normally, as soon as Friday dinner ended-he would head off to his damned dungeons and hide until it was late enough to catch the students in some type of mischief. Minerva and Albus realized what was going on, even if Hermione was blind to the looks Snape would surreptitiously give her. She only hoped that Hermione would soon understand what kind of man Severus was, underneath his cold exterior. She truly did not want to see either one of them get hurt.
Snape stormed down the steps to his dungeons. He encountered a student in his off limits corridor and took pleasure in deducting 50 housepoints from Ravenclaw.
He lowered the wards to his rooms, then raised them again to prevent Minerva or the Headmaster from paying him an unexpected visit. He then allowed himself to remember a particularly humiliating incident from his past.
She had been a vision of loveliness in her purple dress robes. He had gone over to ask her to dance and she looked down her nose and began to laugh. After all those months of admiring her from afar and hoping against hope that she would accept his proposal, he was rather shocked when she laughed. "Is that a yes or a no?" He stupidly asked.
"Surely you don't think I would lower myself to dance with a greasy git like you? Pureblood or no." The girl looked at her friends who had also burst out laughing.
He took off outside with his face a flaming red. Right then and there-he swore he would never fall in love-no matter what.
He shook his head. The girl ended up going on to become one of Voldemort's loyal followers. She died in the war due to her egotistic, narcissistic.... Well, there's no use going on. He knew deep down that Hermione was nothing like that girl from his past, but he still could remember the humiliation. Yes, he could certainly understand why that stupid muggle would drink himself to death. The humiliation factor, if nothing else. He certainly had wanted to hide his head under the covers and die the next morning, especially after her friends had spread the story to his entire house and they ragged him all the next day over her rejection.
How dare Hermione think he had no idea what love was.