I do not own Harry Potter...
Well here is the next chapter. I appologize for the lateness. But it took a while for em to be satisfied with it. Now however I am quite pleased with it and I hope you will be as well.
The Day Miss Granger Disappeared -
I sat in my private dungeon quarters the day Miss Granger disappeared. I downed my tenth glass of Fire Whiskey. I felt the absurd urge to cry when Dumbledore told me that Miss Granger was possibly dying in the Hospital Wing and no one was allowed to see her.
It was all my fault. I poured a new glass of Fire Whiskey and sipped it gently. I let out a roar of frustration and flung the glass into the fire. The fire hissed because of the alcohol briefly before subsiding to its normal flickering.
"I'm sorry Jane. So sorry. I failed to save you and now another girl is badly hurt because of me. When will you come back? I need you," I sobbed out through a raspy throat.
It was just about this time twenty years ago that I first met her, my Jane. Eagerly I await her return.
Four weeks later - Sometime in November.
Miss Granger was still in the Hospital Wing and I was still drinking in a rather sad attempt to drown my sorrows.
Miss Granger...Hermione...she reminded me so of my dear Jane. She had the same joy for learning and the same kindness of heart. Their looks were identical and they both had spent an ungodly amount of time in the Library much like myself. She could be my Jane. My dear sweet Jane. How I missed her.
One memory vividly stands out in my mind. A time when I had believed her to be my Jane. I'd gotten completely inebriated after that incident much like I am now. My eyelids began to sag now. The more intoxicated I become the more probable I am to dream of that disgraceful night. I hope she never told anyone about that.
A/N - Well here it is...the whole story of what happened. Now I need to tell you that Severus is going to refer to himself as I throughout the entire passage of his dream. His thoughts on watching this will be the non italics.
When I woke up I was laying on the grass outside Grimmauld Place. Oh Wonderful! That same damn nightmare where I end up clinging to Miss Granger crying and sobbing for her not to leave me and calling her Jane.
I turned as I heard someone stumbling. What the hell? Why was I watching myself? Great! Out of body experience in that same bloody horrendous nightmare.
I sighed. Well...I might as well go with it. Not like I could change it on command. I could not change what I was dreaming just because I didn't like it. How unfortunate. I snorted. I sat back to watch the show.
I collapsed on the sidewalk. Blood dripped steadily from my forehead and poured from my right shoulder. I moaned before struggling to my feet and getting a hold of the railing and hauling myself up the steps. I pushed the door open and managed to get leaned up against the wall.
I slunk after him.
"Professor," the timid voice of Miss Granger said she approached my battered form.
"Jane," my voice rasped out and I fell against Miss Granger. My head rested weakly on her shoulder and every step I took I trembled a little. "I knew you'd come back. I knew you...you loved me." Had I really said that? Damn! That is not Jane! That is Miss Granger. I am so pathetic I am hallucinating.
Miss Granger slipped her arm under mine and around my back. Most of my weight was being supported by her as she helped me to the parlor and to a reclined position on one of the sofas.
I moaned as Miss Granger pushed the sweat drenched hair back from my face.
"I'll return in just a moment sir," Miss Granger spoke soft and low before she removed her hand from my cheek.
I gasped, crying out in pain. "Don't go. Please...waited so long. Don't go. I love you." Why did I say those words to Miss Granger? The last person I said them to disappeared the morning after I said them. The last words I ever said to Jane. At least when she left me she was in no doubt of my amour for her.
"Mrs. Weasley!" she called out. "Please come here."
I clung to Miss...Hermione's wrist in a secure hold. My eyes were wide as I hauled her closer. Hermione squeaked and tried to pull away. I gave a firm yank which brought her closer and I used the moment to get my arm around her waist and bury my face in her shoulder. This was miserably unfair. To watch myself calling Hermione Jane was agony. I wished it were as simple. I knew she would come back. Is it possible that? No, it makes no sense.
"Don't go Jane," I pleaded clinging tighter to her and whimpering.
She smoothed my hair gently back again shushing me. "It's alright Professor Snape." Her voice was a low whisper so as not to startle me.
Molly Weasley, the worrier for everyone herself, entered the room then.
"Hermione, dear, are you okay?" she asked noticing how I clung to her and whimpered like a helpless little boy at his first thunderstorm.
Miss Granger continued to push sweaty strands back from my face. She placed a soft kiss on my brow and wrapped her arms around me and just spoke comfortingly.
"I'll be back in just a moment Hermione," Molly said and she returned seconds later with a calming draft. When she tried to give the potion to me I knocked her hand away almost causing her to spill it. I whimpered and tugged Hermione closer snuggling my face into her neck. "Severus, you must drink this," Molly snipped.
I just pressed closer to Hermione and whimpered. Hermione ran her fingers through my hair for the millionth time but it was not appearing to be causing her patience to wane. Amazing. Her heart was as warm as Jane's had been. I had been rather rude to Jane when she first spoke to me but she invited me to sit with her. For five years I had insulted Miss Granger openly to her face and she still treated me kindly. She was a rarity. I knew many would simply look the other way until I was dead and not care. But she stayed with me.
"Professor Snape," Hermione spoke running her fingers through my hair once more.
I looked up at her. She smiled warm and soft. I didn't remember her smiling at me that way before. Though the smile itself is familiar but whose smile was it?
"Please drink this Professor Snape." She spoke kindly and held the vial tenderly to my lips.
She tipped the vial up so the contents sloshed against my lips but did not spill on my clothes. I drank the potion to appease her. Slowly my mind and body were numbed to what was going on. I lay back slowly looking up at Hermione with no more comprehension than before of the fact that she was Jane and Miss Granger. My heart seemed to be doing all the talking here. It spoke of what it most desired. I was grateful never to have looked into the Mirror of Erised. I didn't need to. I knew what I would see. I would see myself holding my love who in turn would be holding our child. I knew that I would waste away before it as people had before when they looked into it. Why must I be tormented this way? My eyes drooped lazily as I stared up at my love.
"Professor Snape, I am going to take off your shirt to tend to your wounds," Miss Granger spoke as she unbuttoned the frock coat and shirt lifting me up and holding me against her just long enough to slip them from my shoulders.
I sighed as the soft cool cloth gently cleansed my forehead. She took her time and was careful not to press too hard. Mrs. Weasley murmured a healing spell and touched her wand to the cut on my temple. Slowly the wound closed leaving no hint that I had ever been wounded there. At least the busybody was not explaining to her why I was calling her Jane and professing love to her. I would have had to obliviate Miss Granger if Mrs. Weasley had been. I am sure Hermione would not have had the prudence to know better than to question me on the subject as her insatiable curiosity would have assuredly gotten the better of her. I knew another girl who had displayed the same thirst for knowledge that she did.
Hermione began to gently clean my shoulder carefully dipping the cloth back in warm water and wringing out the blood. She spoke to me the whole time telling me about how she had done on her O.W.L.s and about the book she was reading about potions right now. Every so often she would pause and push my hair back and stroke my cheek.
"Mrs. Weasley, do we have any Dreamless Sleep Potion? I dare say Professor Snape will need some if he hopes to recover any strength tonight," Hermione asked the elderly woman.
"Yes, I'll fetch it immediately," Mrs. Weasley said hastening from the room.
"Don't go anywhere Jane. Promise you won't leave me again," I whimpered tugging her closer. She sat down and allowed me to hold her on my chest as she continued to stroke my hair. My arms snuggled about her waist more securely. She gently lifted us up and let me rest my cheek against her shoulder. I pressed my face to her neck. How could she not be repulsed by this? Surely she was and was just reining it in. BUT even the next day she had not hinted of being upset or frightened by me. In fact after that she was never scared of me again. Though I still managed to inspire some fear in the more annoying 2/3 of the trio.
"I promise to stay," Hermione whispered and she brushed her lips across my temple. "Shush..." Her hands ran through my hair and continued the steady petting of both my hair and cheek. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders as she continued.
"Hermione, all we have is a Sweet Dreams Potion. This will have to do," Molly said handing the flask to her after uncorking it.
Hermione took the flask. "Professor, will you please drink this for me?" She held it to my lips cautiously.
I gulped the potion and felt my arms go slack in their hold around her and I collapsed in exhaustion back on the sofa. I dreamt vividly of my Jane that night. We were together and she looked still as she had when she'd disappeared. We had five children. Four girls and one boy. The boy was the youngest and he was completely attached to his mother as my daughters were attached to me. I felt tears well up in my eyes as I remembered the dream. By now I was doubting whether or not it would come true. Hermione removed herself from my arms as I fell asleep. She moved across to a chair and sat reading.
I had a horrendous hangover when I woke up in the morning. I swiped my hair to try to rid my scalp of the feeling of Miss Granger's hands. The dream occupied most of my thoughts as I went through my daily ritual of getting ready to teach classes. Never had I seen the event play out that way. Never had I not been the one experiencing Miss Granger's tender affections as she took care of me. I had never watched all the events unfold. It was most strange to watch her care for me. I didn't remember her being so sweet to me. I never remembered her kisses on my forehead or holding me in return. I didn't know she had sat with me through the night occasionally rising and wiping sweat from my forehead due to a fever and talking sweetly to me. Miss Granger had left in the morning when Mrs. Weasley had risen for the day and I had awoken with Mrs. Weasley taking care of me. Miss Granger had come in several hours later and apparently though I had been calling her Jane she thought enough to know better than to question me about it or she had been instructed by Molly not to. Miss Granger had tended to me the rest of the day and the next night after she woke up that morning. She didn't speak much. But every so often she would ask me if I was comfortable or if there was anything she could get for me. These thoughts plagued me through the morning.
Well now I had class to get to and teach. Thoughts of Miss Granger would surely prove most unproductive to my teaching style, if yelling and intimidation can be called a style.
I swept into the room with my robes billowing about me causing the door to bang off the wall. I waved my wand at the board and the instructions appeared. "Begin."
Send me a nice review if you like it please. I hope you all did. Also please tell me what you think of this chapter in relation to the other chapters.