Disclaimer: Same as last time.
"Is everything ready?"
"Yes, all the preparations are complete. I've been waiting for this for seven years."
"Ok, all right, I do not need dramatics. I just don't want you to foul up like yesterday."
"How many apologies must I make?"
"There are no apologies, just mistakes. If you hadn't been so emotional, she would have never gotten away. That was the plan… this wasn't."
"We're better than them. They are no match for us and their little shack they call a home. This plan will work."
"You better hope this works, for both our sakes. How could I think this was an easy job for you? This is was your test and all you're doing is messing it up."
"I can do this, tonight. We will have her in our grasp."
"You just get her. No hesitation or savouring the moment. We have to get her away… and then you can have your fun."
"I'll make sure that mudblood wishes she were never born."
"Just kidnap her, and the leave the rest for later."
Severus had watched and listened for the Deatheaters since he arrived at the Burrow. After the train left at Hogsmeade, he had rushed back up to the castle to get his winter clothes and the invisibility cloak that he had borrowed from the Order several weeks ago.
Having no idea what they were planning, Severus was forced to watch Hermione's whereabouts. He stayed outside, in the cold, afraid to use magic too much, in case someone nearby could sense it. He was freezing and wet, but determined to see her survive, so he just stayed in the skeletons of bushes surrounding the Weasley's house for any sign of danger.
He had awoken to the sounds of voices, and having heard the conversation, deducted that it was Draco and Lucius. In the past several months, Severus had been telling Dumbledore and the Order that Draco and his two buddies were being welcomed into the ranks of Deatheaters, which meant many trials and tests to measure their contribution to the Dark Lord.
He became panicky when they mentioned a failed attempt the day before. Severus had realized that they might try to get her while everyone went to the village yesterday, but he knew it would be too risky to try and go down and into the town to try to prevent it if something happened.
Snape remembered the feeling of helplessness and despair he felt as he perched on top of a hill, overlooking the buildings. He stayed up there all day, waiting for any signs, but he was surprised to see at four o'clock that they were all making their way back towards the house… Hermione in tow.
But now that he had heard that there had been attempt the previous day, Severus's head swam with all the what ifs and horrors of being pessimistic brought. And now there was a new, fresh plot stirring. Draco was planning it, and Snape had the sneaky suspicion that it had something to do with luring Hermione out at night.
"So what's the purpose of tonight?" He heard Lucius Malfoy's insipid voice.
"Oh! Come on, dad!" Draco sounding like a kid not being taken seriously.
"I will not be dragging you around forever, Draco. Someday I will not be there to make sure you do what's right, so let's go over this again… why are we here?"
Draco gave an exasperated breath. "To kill Hermione Granger."
Ice water went through Severus's body and he shivered. It was one thing to know what they were going to do; it was a completely different colour of poison to hear the one with the desire speak it from his own lips.
"And how are we going to achieve that?" Lucius patronized.
Draco's voice took on a monotonous, memorized manner. "Getting her out of the house when no one's looking. Hey, why can't we just charge in there and take her by force? They only have three adults, and we've got six of our own out here. We could—"
Lucius looked like he was one step away from beating the boy over the head. "Dumbledore and the Weasley's would have put every charm imaginable to protect that house. If we go charging in there, we would have his entire force and the Ministry of Magic on us in an instant. Think for once you prat."
"My mistake." Said Draco, sullenly.
"Now did you bypass all the charms inhibiting her from leaving the house?"
Draco looked pleased with himself, and his arrogant and boastful manner returned. "Uh, yeah! Man, they only had one charm on the thing, and they had a Muggle alarm system. Go figure!"
"Yes, well I'm not surprised with that Muggle lover, Arthur. So how did you disable it?"
"Well, obviously…" holding up his wand as an explicit reminder. "…Just gave it a tap, and it was out like a light."
"Are you sure it was not functioning?"
"Positive."
Lucius gave his son an uncertain look, but Draco wasn't paying attention. He was looking at the Burrow.
"Wait… dad! Look! The last light's going out."
And sure enough, the Burrow was now completely dark. Lucius gave a strong intake of breath, as if giving himself the final approval. "Right. In an hour, get her out here and away. We will be waiting for you at the designated location. This is your test. It must be perfect or the Dark Lord will be very upset." He grimaced at the thought.
"I've got it," and Draco gave a confident smile.
Severus could hear several pops as Deatheaters all around the terrain Disapparated. Now was his chance to stop Draco from getting Hermione. He said something about a Muggle alarm system. From what Severus remembered of Muggle Studies, burglar alarms went off when someone opened a door. He had to just make sure that it was on, and then when Hermione came to it, the alarm would go off, and everyone would be there in a heartbeat; hopefully scaring off Draco.
He silently got out of his perch, and crept up towards the house, looking through windows to locate the Muggle device. Snape was really shooting in the dark, because he didn't know what it looked like or where it would be found, but he saw something particularly Muggle looking next to the front door. It was a white box attached to the wall, with many buttons on it. He pointed his wand at it, and gave a spell that would make it work again, if it wasn't that is, and as soon as he did, a little red light turned on, and he slowly went back to where Draco had positioned himself.
When Malfoy put on his Deatheater robes, Severus took that as the signal that the plan was starting.
-----------------------------------------------
Groaning. Hermione could hear someone in pain, but she did not know from which direction. It seemed to be coming from everywhere.
She was in a forest with trees as high as skyscrapers, and the atmosphere felt foreboding and tense. There was a path in front of her, and she took a couple of steps forward before hearing the cries of suffering again.
Hermione ran forward. The sound was becoming louder, and she sped up. That voice seemed familiar. She had reached a clearing in the giant trees, and found someone lying on the ground, but a cloak covered his entire body.
She was weary, and did not approach him at first.
Again the figure moaned, and tried to move.
That voice.
"Severus?"
The figure rolled over on his back to reveal that it was indeed Severus Snape.
She rushed to him with no time to spare. "Oh, Severus. Are you all right? Where does it hurt?"
He looked at her for a moment as if trying to remember who she was. Then with a dawning of comprehension, he reached out and cupped her cheek with his hand. "Hermione."
She closed her eyes to his touch, and covered his hand with her own. For a moment she just wanted to stay there, close to him, and forget everything that had happened between them.
Just as her mind was becoming more at ease, she felt like she was being hit by both sides of her arms as someone from behind grabbed her and dragged her to her feet. They spun her around, and her eyes were meet with cold, menacing ones. Lucius Malfoy's mouth was set in an evil sneer. Her arms were in pain from the death grip he had her in.
Suddenly she heard the sounds of several Deatheaters coming out of hiding. She looked back at the ground, wondering what they would do to Severus when she saw his face. He was smiling as he slowly got off the ground.
It had all been a trap. Hermione felt her heart sicken.
Lucius quickly pinched her chin and brought her gaze back to him. "How do you want to die?"
Suddenly Hermione's eyes flung open as she realized she was, once again, having a nightmare. Her breathing was laboured, and she threw off the covers and sat in her bed to think. That's the third dream in three nights, she thought to herself. What's wrong with me?
It felt like her head was softly ticking. Hermione thought she was going insane, but then she heard a louder tick. Her head swung to the window and sure enough, someone was throwing rocks at it.
She precariously approached the windowsill, and swung it open to look down.
"Professor?"
Sure enough, there he was, staring up at her from the snowy ground. He smiled.
"Hermione. I need to talk to you."
"Can't it wait until morning?" She was desperately tired.
"No, it's kind of urgent."
"Look, I don't care if Lord Voldemort was coming to kill you right now." She saw him wince at the name. "Go ask Dumbledore or Lupin to help you."
"I don't need to talk about that. I need you." The way he said it made Hermione shiver with desire, but her brain was in control.
"Oh? You need me now? Well I don't care. Go get your jollies somewhere else. Maybe Lucius will make you one of those dolls again. Just don't make her look like me." And she made to close the window.
"Wait!"
What was with him? Thought Hermione. She opened the window again.
His tone was pleading. "Please, Hermione, let me explain myself. Just five minutes."
She really didn't want to give it to him, but the idea of standing before him while he came up with excuse after excuse as to why he said what he said about her to Dumbledore amused her. And after all the horrific dreams she's been having she could do with a laugh and a nail to secure her convictions about his humanity. "Five minutes and nothing more," she said with dissatisfaction.
He put his hands in the air as if signaling surrender. "I would not ask for more."
She closed the door and silently put on a sweater, some pants and shoes. With as much grace as possible, she left Ginny's room and made her way down to the bottom floor. There were three doors: The front door, the kitchen door, and a side door that Severus was on the other side of.
When she reached it, she saw him smile at her and he excitedly ushered her outside. At that moment, Hermione felt silly. It was the dead of night, and she was sneaking out to meet someone who she had, until recently, been secretly intimate with. When significant time passes, she could look back on this occasion and probably laugh… if it were not for the events that took place next.
She unlocked the door and turned the doorknob… then one of two things happened. One: She pulled back the door and two: almost instantly there was an earsplitting siren that rang through out the house. Hermione covered her ears and without knowing was pulled from the house and out into the cold, one hand wrapping its gloved fingers around her neck, she felt something poke her in the back, and someone chanting in Latin.
Her eyes started to blur and she was beginning to feel her legs go numb.
---------------------------------------
Tonks was the first to respond, because she was actually sleeping on the living room couch. As soon as she reached the side door, she saw Hermione struggling with a Deatheater and instantly cast the Anti-Disapparation Jinx. "Let her go!" She shouted as she could already hear the rest of the house rush down the staircase.
Snape could see through the dead foliage that Hermione's body was going limp. I hope he hadn't killed her yet.
"This mudblood will pay dearly for her actions." He tried to Apparate but once it didn't work, he became panicky. He knew that he couldn't get out with her alive, but he wasn't going to be caught with her not dead.
This was his chance. Severus jumped up and started for Draco just as the boy was beginning to mutter the Avada Kedavra curse. He couldn't risk sending a spell at Draco if the boy, in fact, did recognize his voice, so he picked up a rock and just as he came up behind him, took off the invisibility cloak and whacked him over the head, hard.
The boy and Hermione fell instantly, and Tonks rushed over to them. A moment later and Arthur was at there side as well with Molly holding the others back inside.
Arthur gave him an angry look. "What's going on Severus?"
"I am most sorry, Arthur, I did not know of the Dark Lord's plans until it was too late. I came here as quickly as I could to foil them," he lied.
While Arthur and Tonks picked up Hermione and took her inside, Severus had the unfortunate pleasure in tying up Malfoy and dragging him into the house. Hopefully he knocked the boy hard enough that he will be out long enough.
As soon as he got Draco into the house, he could hear several pops as Order members Apparated in the living room, wands at the ready. The second Lupin saw Hermione on the sofa, unconscious, he ran for her side and inspected her condition. Severus felt an unnatural twinge of jealousy for the man as he so easily rushed for her.
"If only I had followed my instincts, this wouldn't have happened," Lupin said as he beat his fist against the cushion lying next to Hermione.
"Now, now, Remus. We all know that it would not have been wise to rush into anything. You did all you could," said Dumbledore, calmly. He had come with Lupin, Kingsley, and Mad-Eye.
He walked over to the bound Deatheater and pulled back his hood to reveal Draco, who, it seems, was just recently wearing his Hogwarts School uniform, but all trace of innocence was gone as he now wore black makeup around his eyes. Dumbledore sighed. "Oh how the young have fallen." He looked around at the others. "He was the only one here?"
Severus now spoke up. "Yes. Well obviously it was a part of his initiation. His test was to kidnap Her—Miss Granger—So that she could be tortured and killed."
"But why?" said Tonks in a hushed and horrified tone.
Severus gave her a level look. If he pulled off this fable he could officially put himself on the nomination list for worst person alive. Maybe he could even beat out the Dark Lord himself. "Well, ultimately it's a random picking, but many factors would have made her the more preferable target. The fact that she's a Muggle born and a highly gifted witch, or that she's close to Mr. Potter and the rest of you." Severus almost said "us" instead of "you" but he caught it just as the word was coming across his throat.
Everyone thought on this for several moments. It was a powerful thing, being in that room at that instance. They were all looking at both Draco Malfoy, with the robes and the dark eye makeup, and Hermione Granger, who looked pale and fragile. Both of them mere children, but were, minutes before, involved in a violent and deadly situation. Now they lay no more than a few metres from each other, unconscious, caught up in a war that should never have been.
Some were crying, some turned their heads as if seeing enough, and some were just staring and taking a minute to question their own position in this fight when faced with the metaphor that now presented itself in the Weasley's living room. Even Mad-Eye looked mournful.
Dumbledore was the first to say anything, but it was barely about a whisper when he said it, as if anything louder would have been too much. "I think it's time for everyone to be taken to headquarters. Molly? If you would get everyone packed and ready to go in fifteen minutes."
Mrs. Weasley tore her eyes away from Hermione and nodded at Dumbledore. As if being woken up from something, she wiped the tears from her eyes, and quickly bustled the children back towards the kitchen and told them to get ready.
Dumbledore was making a move for Draco. "Mad-Eye, if you would help me with the boy, I think I'll take him back to Hogwarts and keep him under supervision. For the rest of you," as Dumbledore looked at Kingsley, Arthur, Remus, Tonks, and Severus," Apparate yourselves and the others to headquarters and wait there for further instructions."
And with that Dumbledore, Mad-Eye, and Draco left in a blink of an eye.
"Right. I think I'll go upstairs and see if anybody needs help packing." Said Tonks, wiping away her own tears.
Arthur and Kingsley both offered to go with her, and soon it was just Remus, Severus, and Hermione left. Remus was still looking at her guiltily and Snape didn't know what to do with himself. It should be him, not the werewolf, next to her looking lost and full of self-hatred. It was his fault that she was unconscious, not Lupin's.
As if still sensing his presence, Lupin again spoke up. "I figure I should have brought them all in two days ago when we found her in that locked bookshop." It sounded as if he wasn't searching for a remark, maybe, Severus thought, he was just talking to himself. But then he looked up and stared Severus right in the eye. "But then again, there a lot of things we should have done."
For the first time all night, Severus's expression changed. His brow furrowed as he narrowed his eyes at Remus as if questioning what he was saying. Was he again talking about his own actions? Or was he, as Snape became worried, commenting on Severus's indiscretions?
But Lupin was not going to go any further for he had already looked back at Hermione.
Minutes later, everyone was downstairs and people started to pair up. Lupin and Kingsley Disapparated with Hermione between them, and Ron and Ginny went with their parents. He and Tonks soon found themselves in front of 12 Grimmauld Place, and everybody went inside.
--------------------------------------
Hermione felt heavy and drowsy when she finally gained consciousness. Her eyes fluttered open to find that she was staring at the top of a four-poster bed, with almost the same design as the one she slept under at Grimmauld Place.
She kept staring at it and then, as if just coming to the acknowledgement that she was not at the Burrow anymore, Hermione took a look around the room. I am at Grimmauld Place, she thought to herself.
She just lied there; unable to move from how leaden her limbs felt… then the events of last night came rushing at her. She was leaving the house in the middle of the night when there was this shrieking sound and someone gripped her hard around the throat. Hermione went to touch her own neck, knowing there should have been bruises, but not being able to feel any pain. Why was I even going outside? For a second Hermione couldn't remember.
Professor Snape's name came to the forefront of her mind. Yes, I went down stairs to talk to him, then came the siren and a hand wrapping itself to strangle me. But then… Hermione's eyes went wide with terror as she realized… Did Severus grab me?
As soon as she thought of it, she pushed it from her mind, but Hermione couldn't ignore the fact that it was just Snape and her outside at that moment. No… he wouldn't betray the Order and me. Why would he do such a thing? Hermione agreed that Snape was a pretty lowly figure, but would he go so far as to threaten bodily harm? But he did do bodily harm, thought Hermione as she was still suffering the effects of the spell that knocked her out last night.
It was at that moment that the door to the bedroom opened, and Dumbledore stepped through carrying a tray with a teapot and a cup.
"Ah! I'm pleased to find you awake."
"Was I only out for the night, Headmaster?" As she pointed with her thumb towards the sheer curtains, that allowed a great deal of light in, but still kept privacy.
He placed the tray on the bed next to her, but down at her knees. "Yes. Luckily the magic Mr. Malfoy used last night wasn't that powerful." Dumbledore summoned a chair and bent over the tray, being careful as he poured some of the red liquid in a teacup.
Hermione was confused. Was Lucius there that night and somehow pushed Severus aside and grabbed her? There were a hundred scenarios popping in her mind at that time, each one more farfetched than the last. "Lucius was there?"
He passed her the cup and made a gesture as to encourage her to drink. "No. It was his son, Draco.
She took a sip and then put the cup on her lap, welcoming the warmth of it permeate her fingers. "But I didn't see him. I went downstairs to see…" but she didn't know how to articulate the next part so as to not say who she was about to see. Fortunately she didn't have to.
"I had some veritaserum lying around the office. I took Draco to the castle and asked him about his plan. It seems that he gave you the illusion that it was someone else. I inquired further and it also seems that he has been breaking into your mind for a while now. Our Mr. Malfoy has found himself a master of legilimens and other thought piercing magic. I take it you've been having nightmares?"
Hermione gave a small nod, but inside her heart was beating fast and she was thoroughly saturated with worry. If Malfoy was under the influence of veritaserum, then he would have told Dumbledore everything. "Did you ask him what the dreams were about?" She tried to sound as nonchalant as possible.
Dumbledore smiled. "I acquired all the information I needed. I did not want to impede on your privacy. Nor did I ask him who he imitated himself last night to lure you from your bed. I always believe that those sorts of specifics are only intended to be known by the person and their personal demons." And with that he got up and made to leave. "Do drink all of that, Miss Granger. Then when you are ready, you can come down to the kitchen and get something to eat."
Hermione sat there a second and let the relief rush over her. When it had settled, she drank more tea and when she was done, felt strangely energized, and soon she was getting dressed and bounding down the stairs for the kitchen.
And when she got to the kitchen, there was a loud burst as everybody rushed for her; Mrs. Weasley was the first to reach Hermione, and she found herself in a bear hug. Everybody was asking her what happened and how she was feeling. Hermione was becoming overwhelmed as people ushered her to a spot at the table and were pushing food in front of her.
Mr. Weasley finally tried to halt the uproar. "Please! Children calm down! Let her eat in peace!"
It was then, at last, that Harry, Ron and the others settled down and started eating their own soup, but still passing anxious glances her way.
Later that evening, in the sitting room, Hermione was trying to calm her jagged nerves with some knitting, but found little joy as Ron and Harry kept pestering her for details.
"Who did you see?" questioned Ron.
"What?" Hermione knew what he was asking, but she was acting as if his question eluded her.
"You know, Hermione, whose form did Draco take?"
"That's for me to know, and for you to never find out." Quipped Hermione.
Ron opened his mouth to take another go at it when Harry hit his shoulder.
"Just lay off it, Ron. She isn't going to tell anybody anything more than they already know."
Hermione looked at them, exasperated. "You know just as much as Dumbledore. Isn't that good enough?"
Ron couldn't hide the hurt and anger in his voice. "But Dumbledore's just our teacher. We…" he waved his hand between Harry and himself, "are supposed to be your best friends! Shouldn't we be telling each other everything?"
Hermione threw down her knitting and stood toe to toe with him. "Do you tell me everything, Ron? How you're feeling and how's you relationship with what's-her-face doing?"
"It's Maybel, and I didn't want to bring up a touchy subject!"
"But we're supposed to be best friends!" Her words were oozing sarcasm. "No subject is out of reach! Wasn't that your exact words? And what about Harry? He's too sensitive to talk to about Sirius—"
"Hey! What do you mean 'I'm too sensitive' to talk about—"
"—But I don't see you pressing him on the matter! The truth is, Ron, that…" she started to pick up her knitting, "… even though we might be best friends, there are still some things that should just—be—left—alone!" And she took her exit and ran up the stairs, two at a time.
-------------------------------------
After a couple days, the proverbial dust in the House of Black settled, and some of the younger ones started a running joke about how it appeared that even Lord Voldemort took holidays. This was because there was maybe one or two Order meetings, and the atmosphere became more joyful and at ease.
Being that it was the central pillar in all the lives of those who stepped inside its premises, decorations were hung from every available spot, with a large fir tree in the sitting room. Members of the Order of the Phoenix were no longer at headquarters to report on enemy movement or continuing efforts to recruit more. Now when they came, they came with presents, and wanted to a taste of one of Mrs. Weasley's pies. And they didn't know what they were sampling until it was brought to them, because though they were not spending Christmas at the Burrow anymore, she still was obsessed with baking at least three deserts a day. Even Hermione thought that she would soon need to by looser clothing.
And Charlie and Bill came on Christmas Eve, laden with gifts from their travels. Though it could become quite childish, thought Hermione. That night Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Fred and George were all told to go to bed way before time.
"Mum. I'm seventeen. I think I'm a little too old for all this!" Pleaded Ron, but he was going to receive no leniency that night. Even Fred and George had conceded to being treated like children and they were out of school and owned their own shop.
Hermione just laughed. The truth was that she was actually quite exhausted. While everybody thought that the trouble would be over now that Hermione showed no permanent physical effects from Draco's spell, they missed her mental anguish. Draco had done more to her than a simple knockout curse. He had violated her thoughts and exploited her relationship with Professor Snape and those, unfortunately, would not fade away as fast.
But she was relieved when she didn't see him at all since coming to Grimmauld Place, though she could do with some answers. He was the only one that really knew what happened that night. However, she didn't want to concern herself with it if it meant she had to see him in the near future and it also meant that she didn't have to worry about something else… like why Lord Voldemort had sent his henchmen to kill her.
When she woke up, she found no presents at her bedside. Ginny didn't have any either, so they got up, put on their robes and went outside to the staircase. They meet Harry and Ron on the landing and then they heard noise coming from the sitting room. Inside they saw everyone gathered around the tree and the hearth, singing and drinking hot chocolate and coffee. Underneath the tree were all the presents.
"What's all this?" asked Ginny.
Mrs. Weasley came over to them with a tray of hot chocolate. "Oh, we thought we'd open the presents as a family this year." She had a twinkle in her eye.
"As a family, huh?" said Ron. "Mum, it looks like you invited the whole neighbourhood!"
"Nonsense!" Laughed Lupin. "We are all family for love is thicker than blood."
There was a shout of "here here's" throughout the room and everyone began opening gifts.
Hermione was all giggles, but at the reference to family, she felt a twinge of sadness. If all the members of the Order were here, celebrating the holidays as a family, then they must be missing a son, because Snape wasn't here. It must be so hard for him, thought Hermione, having to alienate yourself from so many people.
As if willing it to happen herself, there was a knock at the door.
"Now how could that be?" said Mrs. Weasley, and she made her way downstairs to answer it.
It couldn't be, thought Hermione, but as she doubted, the air caught in her throat, and her heart started to beat fast.
She heard the door open, and then nothing. There was no talking or noises. It seemed that everyone in the sitting room was silent as well. At that moment you could hear a pin drop if you wanted to.
Then somebody screamed. Actually it was more like a shriek, but not one of panic or fright. It seemed Mrs. Weasley was receiving a surprise. There was a lot of bustling, and it seemed like she could not stop talking. Both her and guest were making their way up to the sitting room, and Mr. Weasley made to go towards the door to see who it was, when they reached it.
Everyone was staring, open mouthed at the guest. It was… Percy.
Instantly the room was electrified with tension. Both father and son were mere feet away from each other, face to face. Mrs. Weasley stood back, but had the purest smile placed upon her features. She looked back and forth between them, anxiously.
Mr. Weasley looked as shocked as everyone else, and Percy just stared at him in the eye, weary.
After what seemed forever, he finally spoke up. "I, uh. Well, what I mean to say, uh." He looked down at his feet, as if trying to formulate words for what he wanted to get across. "I was just sitting in my apartment, looking at my shabby tree, and I, uh. I…" he again looked up at his father. "I guess I just really missed being with you guys on Christmas." His eyes started to well up and he looked at Mr. Weasley, expectantly.
It was then that Mr. Weasley through his arms around his son, and Percy hugged back.
Everyone present released the breath they were holding, and soon the rest of the Weasley family were in the hug.
Hermione couldn't stop the tears from falling. The scene in front of her was just too emotional for words. All seven children were gathered in a group hug, on Christmas morning after mending a rift that had been for two and a half years.
----------------------------------
He was having a breakdown. He knew it. Everything that had happened in the last month had caused his mental barriers to collapse and his world to turn upside down. Two intimate moments with the most beautiful woman he had ever known had caused both his and her near death, plus there was the lost of trust that Dumbledore and the Order now had. Of course they didn't know that they couldn't trust him any longer, but that did not help stem his guilt and self-loathing.
And it was this insanity and uncertainty that he had caused for himself that had him in the throws of a fit. Severus found himself weeping frequently and without warning. It had also compelled him to get himself into danger one last time, by coming to her bedside on Christmas night, when she was asleep.
Snape didn't know if he wanted to wake her or not, but the room was empty. Ginny had fallen asleep on the davenport in the sitting room, so Severus was tempted to stay all night. Crying and mentally beating himself senseless while in the presence of a slumbering Hermione was a desirable way to spend the wee hours of the morning. But he couldn't really bring himself to look at her. He just sat in a chair, next to her, weeping into his hands.
Hermione stirred. "Professor?"
Snape quickly dried his eyes. He could not let anyone seem him in such a state.
"What are you doing here?" she whispered, but it sounded angry.
"I just wanted to see how you were doing."
"No, you were crying, why?"
Denying it would have just been illogical, but he didn't want to tell her the whole truth. "Tears of guilt, I figure."
"Why are you feeling guilty?"
"Because it's all my fault…" and his voice broke off as he again found himself sobbing once again. "Oh, Hermione! They came after you because of me!" When she looked thoroughly confused, he continued. "The Dark Lord found out that it was you that I had been with. He sent Lucius Malfoy to kill you, and if I tried to stop him, I would be killed. It was all a senseless test of loyalty!"
It was finally hitting her, and all she could get out was a whisper. "And you didn't tell anyone."
He shook his head, not being able to look at her, but his whole body was shaking from the sobs. "I couldn't take it all. I lied to everyone. To Dumbledore, the Order… right to their face! We were all in the living room, and they were looking at me for the answers! I… I lied to them. They trusted me and I couldn't tell them the truth."
"Well you obviously told Dumbledore some truth."
The weeping momentarily stopped. Snape lifted his head to stare at her face. He had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. "What?"
"Look, the only reason why I even left Hogwarts for Christmas was because you said all those awful things about me to him."
"I… I… I don't know what to say. I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about."
"I really don't feel sorry for you if you're feeling guilty. I think "naïve" was the exact word? The rest of the conversation went along the lines of "it was just a fling and I want it to end? I'm too old to be sleeping with a kid?"
Severus's mind was reeling. Where was she getting these… then it dawned on him. Was this entire episode due to a simple misunderstanding? Correction: a deadly misunderstanding?
"Hermione, I wasn't talking about you."
"Oh, come off it, who else would you have been talking about?"
"It was a girl I went out with in college."
"Oh, so now you're saying that you were rude and mistreating to another young, innocent woman?"
"No, no, you've got it all wrong." He was now scrambling to sit by her on the bed. His entire being was becoming frantic. "I was dating a woman a couple years older than me. She came from a very respectable wizarding family. That part of the conversation that you overheard between Dumbledore and I was what she said about me."
Hermione's brow furrowed and she looked like she was debating herself. For several moments she was searching his eyes for the truth, but he just gave her an earnest stare. At last it was her turn to put her head in her hands and shake her head.
Severus put his arms around her and sat there, comforting her and soon all traces of mental torture and destruction were cast aside, as he now, again, had Hermione in his embrace.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Excuse me while I use every cliché and profanity in the book, but good golly miss molly, if that don't take the whole firkin' baking industry!! (Fuck just the cake). I figure I have put fifteen, hard hours into this.
And I'd like to say that I hope you got as emotional as I did in the Weasley's living room and at the sitting room at headquarters, but maybe it's just because I'm the writer. I really did want those to be powerful parts.
Well, I hoped you enjoyed it, because I have no idea when I'll come up with the next one. I already have an outline in the works, but I'm starting college in a couple of weeks, and I must find me a job and a gym. Again, thank you so very much for your reviews and support. They are the peer pressure I need to get through this, lol.