Ch 14- Like Talking to a Wall
Hermione's first instinct was to glare at the sight of a teacher she hated so much, but then she remembered that she was in the past. She sent a look of warning at Sirius when she noticed his muscles tense and his jaw set.
"Don't say anything, Sirius," she said as she passed him to make her way to Snape. "You promised."
Sirius looked from her to Snape and she could tell he was regretting making that promise, but the fact that seconds later, jaw still set, he didn't say anything.
Snape looked from her to Sirius and back at her. He sneered but Hermione ignored it.
"Yes, I was looking for you, er…"
"Severus," he supplied. He looked her up and down and the look in his eyes told very much that he thought her quite attractive. Behind her, she could hear the growl deep in his throat.
"Yes, we need to speak to you privately," she continued. "It's of much importance."
"Why should I talk to you?" he asked. "What's in it for me?"
Hermione's patience ebbed away at the tone in his voice.
"A hell lot more than what's in it for you in what your getting yourself into now," she said quietly. Snape's eyes narrowed. Silently and very much snake-like, he crossed the distance between them and bent down so that his eyes were level with her.
"I don't know who you've been talking to, or what they have said about me, but what I do is none of your business," he said, and turned to walk away. Hermione panicked. This was her only chance to get him to see that the path he followed would only give him pain.
"Don't do it, Severus," she spoke to his retreating back. "The pain, the torture, it isn't worth it. You know it isn't right. He will only use you; you will find no love, nothing to live for in that life. There is somewhere you can find love, a meaning for life. There is someone who has always cared for you, even when you didn't want it. Please, don't make the wrong choice, Severus. We need you, and you need us."
He stopped only for a moment as she spoke, but went on as if he hadn't heard a thing.
"I told you it was useless," Sirius told her as they crossed the library. "Like talking to a wall."
"You might be surprised," Hermione said, turning her head to peer at Snape who had his head in his hands at the table he had been at. "He heard everything, Sirius. And it stuck. He just needs time to process what was said and to see that I'm right."
Sirius grunted telling Hermione just what he thought of Snape. She shook her head and sighed. Old rivalries died hard.
With that, she headed out of the library with Sirius.