Chapter Eight: Anger like no other

She kept seeing his face in her head. His eyes, his face, when he looked at her like that it made him look younger, happier and much more pleasant. When he brushed his hand against her cheek it felt soft. But it all seemed so wrong...nothing could ever happen. She had to resist all temptation. Temptation though? She wasn't feeling anything for him...in that way. Maybe she was just noticing that he was friendlier. And just because he was acting like that didn't mean he was in love with her. It was all to impossible to her!

Hermione decided she needed to get up and walk around. She let her feet carry her away around the house and before she realized it, she was opening a large silver door to a room she had never seen before. There was a single desk in the corner of the room with a stone basin sitting upon it. She recognized it at once...it was a pensieve.

She knew that if she looked inside of it, it would lead to nothing good. But being the person that she is, a bit curious, she decided to go up to it. She took out her wand and prodded the silvery, wispy substance with her wand.

Suddenly, two figures appeared out of the pensieve, pearly white and translucent, the two figures began to speak...

"Your past is catching up with you Severus" said a woman.

She looked a lot like Hermione...

"MY PAST! That is exactly what it is! My PAST! Dumbledore trusts me and has put his faith in me...if that means nothing to you...!" said a man whom Hermione was sure whas Severus Snape.

"Oh Severus, I know, but what if...you-know-who does come back, you wouldn't go back...would you?" she began.

"NEVER! My loyalty lies with Dumbledore, and with you. I told you who I used to be because I trusted you to believe that I changed. Many people have faith in me, Nadalia. I am one of the most intelligent pureblood wizards working at Hogwart's I know more than you can imagine.." he shouted.

"So that's what it is, is it? All about blood, because you're pureblood, you're better than me?" said the woman name Nadalia.

"I never said that but mudbl-... half bloods like you...they just don't –" said Severus.

"Severus, you have never called me that before! Just because you are a pureblood doesn't mean that you are better or that I don't deserve you. You know what? I don't care any more Severus, I just don't." Nadalia said, and she began crying.

"I didn't mean it Nadalia! I love you, you are the world to me...Please..." he said in a pleading voice. He was not going to lose her. But before he could stop her, she was out of the room and gone. "Nadalia, you are the light in my dark! Remember? Don't go!" he shouted.

Suddenly...the scene changed. There was a man lying in a ball on the floor, weeping and crying. She couldn't tell who it was but he kept saying "She's dead...She's gone..." and then the image disappeared.

Hermione couldn't help but think that she shouldn't have seen that, but it gave her another different image of Snape. A man who could love and deeply care about someone, a man who wasn't afraid to cry, a man who had loved and lost, but a man who had changed. A man who was now bitter, and cold. A man who was so completely different from the image she had just seen in the pensieve, that it was hard to believe it was the same person.

She tried to leave the room, but she couldn't move. She felt her feet planted on the floor but couldn't bring herself to move them. She was frozen cold and scared. She should never had looked into that pensieve, but she had and it was too late. Seeing that vision of him and the woman called Nadalia had made Hermione feel even more uncomfortable to be there. Although, she could accept that Snape was actually human, a person had feelings and emotions, and at one time, could express them.

She finally got herself to move and just as she opened the door, she turned her head back to cast one more furtive glance at the pensieve. The only thing she had to look forward now was her lessons and she didn't know when her teacher would be showing up. She decided she needed to go for a walk, despite the last thing that happened when she left the house, she didn't care. She needed to let her feet sweep her away and let her mind catch up with her thoughts.

She figured she should be safe walking around the forest because she had already been attacked and therefore become immune. After all, Hermione had read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them many times and knew that you could not be affected by a Nundu, after being exposed to its danger once before.

Hermione exited through the aged front door, and let her feet carry her away. Before she knew it, she was so exhausted she was sitting at the base of a large tree trunk. She didn't care about anything, and she felt like she couldn't waste any more of her strength thinking about all the unusual things that she had experienced while she was there. She let her head fall back and she was looking up the trunk of the tree. She vaguely noticed something on carved higher up on the wood. She got to her feet and read an engraving that was clearly carved right into the wood.

It read:
Severus and Nadalia Forever...

It was enclosed in a heart.

She thought it was beautiful because it reminded her that Snape had emotions just like everyone else and he once knew what it was like to be in love.

But, to Hermione's surprise, it appeared as though someone had tried to scratch it off but failed miserably.

Hermione didn't let her eyes linger aimlessly on the carved message, but head back to the house, she had been outside far too long and didn't want to take any more risks.

When she got back inside, she noticed a man sitting on the sofa. Hermione's heart skipped a beat and she jumped back, completely surprised at seeing a stranger there. She hadn't recognized him and he completely took her aback. She was not used to visitor inside Snape's gloomy dilapidated house.

"Er....Hello? Can I help you?" She asked timidly.

"Well I've been expecting you! It seems you weren't here when I apparated so I decided to just take a seat and wait a moment." He said as though he expected Hermione to know who he was.

"I don't mean to be rude...but...who exactly are you?" she said with a look of confusion on her young pale face.

"Mr. Davis. But please, call me Drew. And I know you're Hermione Granger. I've been sent here to be your teacher until you return to Hogwarts." He said with a toothy smile, which Hermione found quite charming.

It took Hermione a minute to come back to herself, because she was quite entranced with Drew. He had stunningly beautiful blue eyes and wavy blonde hair. He was very handsome, and wore sapphire blue robes, which made his eyes pop out. Hermione was expecting someone much more boring, and less....her style.

"Oh...Ok!" she said with enthusiasm. "Shall we get started then?" She said, ready to learn and eager for some time alone with someone else besides Snape. Hermione and Snape had been more friendly lately, but after that uncomfortable moment in the bedroom when she awoke with his hand in hers, she didn't feel like going near him, although the thought had entered her mind.

"Slow down Hermione!" He called her Hermione, and she liked it surprisingly. "We wont be having a lesson today. I just stopped by to chat with you so we were a little more comfortable and easy going around each other by the time our first lesson came up. I want you to feel like you can come to me with any questions and I hope we can be excellent friends. Besides, Professor Dumbledore seems to think you haven't had a lot of visitors lately." He said with a likeable smirk.

"Unfortunately...that's all too true..." she said grimly, but her thoughts brightened at the chance to spend time with somebody completely new. "So...what did you want to do?"

"Well I thought we could prepare some dinner together and sit down for a nice chat. What do you think, Miss Granger?" he said politely.

"That sounds lovely!" she said and they both made their way across the dim living room into the kitchen.

As the minutes grew shorter and the dinner was being cooked, Hermione and Drew became engaged in very interesting conversations. She found it was very easy to talk to him and felt she could be herself. But what mattered the most to her is that he made her forget about Snape completely. Finally, the sat down at the dinner table and talked a bit more, and got to know each other a little bit better.

"So Mr. Davis, what do you do for a living, besides teach?" she asked curiously. They had been talking quite a bit already, but not about the important facts and who they really were.

"Call me Drew!" he said enthusiastically. Hermione blushed a bit. "Well, I went to school to become a teacher and I applied at Hogwart's, but later decided I would rather have fewer students and spend more time with them, usually in special cases, such as yours. Being cooped up here can make a girl go insane you know.." he said casually with a neat smile.

"I can vouch for that," Hermione replied with a chuckle. "do you have any other students right now?" she asked.

"No...just you for right now. Dumbledore thought it wise to focus on your needs and yours alone at this time..." he answered. "but enough about me. What are some things I don't already know about you?" he said curiously.

"Well..." she said reluctantly, she hated talking about herself. "Most would say I'm a bookworm, a bit of a workaholic. I'm in 6th year at Hogwarts, I have two great best friends, but sadly, no boyfriend." She said gloomily.

"What? With a face like that?" he said harmlessly. Hermione's cheeks turned a bright crimson color. She suddenly noticed how interesting her mashed potatoes looked on her plate.

"Yeah.." she said, her voice drifting off. "Anyways...It's been absolutely horrible here. Snape isn't the kindest man alive. He's been making a bit of an effort though, and something kind of weird happened this morning..." she said. Suddenly, Hermione realized that she had let something terrible slip. She shouldn't have even mentioned that and was horrified to here what Drew asked.

"What happened Hermione? Is he treating you bad?" he said with a look of complete and sincere concern on his face.

"No...nothing. Everything has been completely normal around here." She lied and took a big forkful of her meal to her mouth, hoping for the subject to change.

"Hermione, you are making a terrible amount of effort to lie to me. I can tell when someone is untruthful to me. Just please, I know we've only met but I feel like I know you. Just tell me what happened..." He said and reached over to grasp her hand. Her head was down and her sleek brown hair was masking her face. Drew felt a hot tear fall onto his hand from her face. "Just tell me what happened..." he repeated. He was dying to know what would make her so upset.

To Hermione, it felt a bit strange that they had only met and yet they were comfortable enough with each other to hold hands and even more weird that Hermione felt she could let herself go and cry in front of Drew.

"Don't think I'm thick enough to think your crying over nothing. Something must have happened Hermione." He said, trying to get her to confide in him.

"Nothing...happened." She said in between sniffles.

"Hermione don't lie to me! You can trust me, honestly!" he said gently.

"No...I...cant....Terrible...awful..." she said again, trying to hold herself together from breaking down into full sobs.

"Hermione...I wont tell anyone, I swear. Just let me know what's going on here..." he said, placing his hand on her should, hoping to calm her down enough to speak normally.

"Promise...you...wont...tell." She said with tears dropping on Drew's hand and on her dinner plate.

"Hermione, I promise, And I've never meant anything more in my life." And Drew was right; he had never meant anything more. Even though they did just meet, he felt like he had known her forever...and that feeling was not familiar with him.

Drew placed a finger under her chin and pulled her head up. Her hair fell gently off of her face and revealed a red puffy face, wet with tears. She looked horrified and sad all at the same time.

"Why don't we go sit on the sofa?" He said, hoping to make her feel comfortable.

Drew held Hermione's hand and led her over to the sofa where the sat down, causing puffs of dust to rise into the already musty air. Snape didn't usually bother about cleaning the house. (Until Dobby got there that is..)

"Now, Hermione. Tell me what's going on...please. I've never been more serious when I said I wouldn't tell anyone." He said while turning to face her directly on the sofa.

"Its....terrible. Its so terrible Drew." She didn't want to say what happened, but she knew that Drew would eventually crack her. Though it just involved sleeping rather close, and holding hands, it was possibly the worst and most confusing thing that had ever happened to her.

Hermione focused her soft brown eyes to look into Drew's beautiful blue eyes, and she felt safe and comforted then. She knew it was going to be okay...he was there now and nothing terrible would happen to her. A wave of happiness crept over Hermione when she stared into his eyes.

Before she knew it, Hermione was spilling everything. How he had treated her when she first got there, Lorish's evil doings, her leaving, the potion, and how she had woken up sleeping by Snape holding his hands. She had started to cry again when she got to this point and kept saying how terrible and awful she was. When Hermione was done saying what she needed to say, Drew was still staring into her beautiful eyes and was ready to fully comfort her.

Hermione knew that Drew would start talking now and telling her how everything was going to be okay, but the first thing he did was lean towards her and wrap his arms around her. "It all right...I'm here" is what he whispered into his ear. His hot breath on her shoulder sent shivers down her spine, but she felt everything was all right and she didn't need to hear it. But Drew still needed to talk to her. He let go of her and held both of her hands in his.

"Hermione...I know you feel awful, but its not that bad. You are trying to save a persons life and that's a heavy burden. Sometimes you do things you don't mean to when you're under pressure. You'll forget about it in no time." Drew said while smiling at Hermione. And right then and there, she thought she had forgot about Snape, and for good. They hugged again, but this time it was Hermione who threw her arms around him and said. "Drew...Thank you....thank you..." Drew and Hermione had both never been happier.

But if Hermione would have turned around, she would have seen Professor Snape, peering from the stairway, whose cold eyes had seen everything, and heard it all.

Fortunately, Hermione had not seen Professor Snape at the stairs, which was probably a good thing, but not for Severus.

Earlier, Snape had been feeling much better, he hadn't exerted himself and the slowing effects potion had worked wonderfully, even though he knew it was for a short time. He decided to go down and make sure Hermione was ok, but stumbled upon a moment between Hermione and Drew that he wished he'd never seen. It enraged him, it made him want to scream and cry. He had never felt that emotional, but Hermione had been having a strange effect on him...but not anymore. He picked up a picture hanging on the wall and threw it down the stairs, the glass shattering everywhere.

Downstairs on the sofa, Hermione had been feeling much better until she saw the picture fly down the stairs and end up breaking into pieces on the living area floor. She thought immediately that something was wrong with Snape. She had to go make sure...

"You better go Drew. I'll see you for our first lesson.." She didn't want him to leave, but she thought he shouldn't be there in case something awful happened again.

"Right. Be careful Hermione. I'll see you tomorrow." And with a quick hug, he left.

Hermione quickly ran upstairs, completely ignoring the broken picture and shards of glass on the bottom stairs. Before she even reached their bedroom, she found Snape huddled on the floor, curled up in a ball against the wall. She didn't know how he could have even moved, he was surely paralyzed, but then she remembered the potion she had given him, but she didn't think it would have lasted this long.

"Professor, are you all right?" the memories of the morning incident had faded from her mind and all that mattered is that he wasn't dead.

"GO AWAY GRANGER!" he screamed at her. "GO AWAY!"

She was surprised at his rage. Even though she couldn't see his face, she could see him shaking with fury.

"Professor...what's the—" she tried to get out, but he interrupted.

"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! GO AWAY" was all he managed to get out. Something wasn't right....

Suddenly, Snape got to his feet (with some difficulty) and stared evilly into Hermione's terrified eyes. "GET OUT! GET OUT!" his face was red with anger and still shaking uncontrollably. Hermione felt the urge to run away and just leave.

Snape had started backing Hermione into the room behind her. She was so scared that her heart was skipping beats.

"TRAITOR!" he shouted. She was not right up against a desk in some sort of study. Snape looked so angry it made Hermione fearful...she had never seem him like that before...at least not to this extreme.

He had grasped her hair and pushed her on top of the desk. He began slapping her so hard that she winced with pain. She was screaming for help, but no one was coming.

Snape continued slapping her on the face and arms, pulling her hair out at the same time. He was so angry with her that he didn't care if he beat her to death. Those kind of thoughts hadn't entered his mind for years, but something threw him over the edge. He was slapping her so hard now that she was bleeding in places. Hermione was silent now. Her limp body just gave into him and she didn't try to stop him. She thought it was useless. Whatever she did...she must have deserved this. She really thought he was going to kill her, but she wasn't scared....

Why wasn't Dobby coming...he should have heard her screaming...It would be over soon...soon he would stop hitting her. Her eyes were closing and she drifted away from it all. The last thing Hermione remembered was seeing Snape's eyes look at her with complete hatred and anger, and seeing his hand race to her face.