Chapter 2 – You're the one I want and it's not just a phase
This can't be true; it has to be a bad dream, it has to! Please wake me up! Just say this is a bad dream and everything will be fine.
Of course she knew deep inside of her that this wasn't a dream but she still tried to convince herself that it was.
"Someone pinch me." Hermione muttered, feeling really low. The fact that she will have to live with Snape was the worse she could ever think about. The dungeons weren't quite nice either. Everything was wrong! Damn Dumbledore. How the hell did the old fool think this was going to work?
She walked into the Common room and found Ron and Harry playing wizard-chess. The room was filled with students, as usually in the afternoons, which made the room-temperature very hot. The fireplace had no use at all this time of the day, though it took part of the cosy look the room had. All the sofas were in the same colours, red with golden pillows. As usually the candles were lit and they gave the room a comfortable light.
"Hey guys!" Hermione greeted tiredly and sat down next to Ron. "You have no clue at all what I'm going to tell you. The worse thing that could possibly happen I guess." She sighed.
"Go on. Tell us. It can't be that worse, huh?" Harry said and moved the knight to another place at the chessboard.
"Wait. I think I know what's going on. You've got detention, right?" Ron joked.
"It's not funny. Not at all!" Hermione groaned. "I have to move down to Snape's quarters. Dumbledore says I'm in great danger or something. He thinks you-know-who wants to capture me, to make you, Harry, leave Hogwarts and go looking for me. Crazy, huh?" She whined.
"Are you kidding?" Ron laughed, thinking this was a joke. "You nearly got me."
"Not I'm not joking, silly!" Hermione said, annoyed of how Ron could be so slow sometimes.
"But why do you have to live in his quarters!" Ron asked.
"Because he'll be my guard. I can just be here in the Common room 'till like 9 pm from now. After that, I have to be down there. And I'm not allowed to go outside the castle without him or Dumbledore. That's really crazy, I know, but that's the way it is."
"Man, I'm so sorry for you. How long do you have to live there?" Harry asked in compassion.
"I have no idea. Guess 'till Dumbledore thinks I'm safe. He doesn't even listen to me when I say I can take care of myself." Hermione grumbled.
"Dumbledore use to know the best, after all. He's worried for you; otherwise he wouldn't make Snape to your guard." Harry said sententious as always. "What does Snape think about all this? Guess he's not too happy. How did Dumbledore make him agree to this?" he sneered.
"He doesn't agree." Hermione smirked. "Dumbledore hadn't even asked him before I got to know it. Snape doesn't agree at all… so I think I have some really boring weeks in front of me." She sighed. "Anyways, let's talk about something else for the last.. um.." She watched her wrist-watch. "Three Snape-free hours I have today. Dinner would be fine now, don't you think?"
Hermione knocked at Severus' office door nervously. She had just been in his office once, in her second year when she was stealing an ingredient for a potion.
Severus opened the door and asked her to come in. Hermione hoped the room she was going to live in wasn't like his office. The dark office was the last place in the world she wanted to be in, it was so dark and un-welcoming. All the murky potions on the shelves made the room very strange, also the smell was strange. It smelled very musty, and not even the burning fire
in the fireplace could make the room look nice.
"Good evening, Miss Granger." Severus muttered and sat down in his chair. "Guess you want me to show you where you're going to sleep. I just want to clear up some things first." He tilted himself deeper back in the chair.
"Yes, Sir." Hermione nodded.
"You mustn't bring any of your friends into your room, and do not tell anybody how do you go to my rooms either, okay? I'm sure none of us like this situation, but we have to do the best of it, though it's hard." He grinned.
"Yes, Professor."
"To come to my room, you just take a little floo-powder over you, from the little bowl there." Severus pointed on a small, blue bowl next to the fireplace. "Then walk through the fire in my fireplace. You don't have to say anything, just walk through it. Follow me." He muttered and held out the floo-powder-bowl to her.
The Professor's living room was not as she'd expected, not at all. Hermione had expected the room in dark colours, and with very un-comfortable furniture. She had thought the bookcases would be filled with different potions, like his office, but instead they were filled with books. She did even recognize some of the books as muggle-books. The smell wasn't bad as the office either, actually the room felt like a home, which was more than she'd ever hoped for. The two sky-blue sofas were puffy and were surely very comfortable. In a corner there was a big chair, with a lamp next to it, perfect for reading all those interest books. The blue-patterned carpet matched the beige walls and the fireplace they'd arrived from. In another corner, there was a desk with loads of papers. The big room had paintings everywhere and Hermione discovered, to her surprise, that her Professor might be very interested of art.
Wait, she was going to dislike all this, wasn't she?
"So... Here's the living room as you see." Severus gestured on the room they were in. "The bathroom is over there." He pointed on a door with the sign "WC" on it. "My room is over there, and your room is next to it. And. Um. You see the black door beside the desk?"
"Yeah?" Hermione became curious of what must be in there, something secret probably. Otherwise he wouldn't have mentioned it for her in that way.
"Do never enter it, Miss Granger. Never." Severus hissed.
"I won't. Oh, may I ask if I can borrow any of the books? They all look very interesting to me." Hermione blushed, surprised of her courage to ask that question.
"Yes, this is your place too now, Miss Granger, for a couple of weeks." Severus said dejected.
"Thanks a lot, Sir." Hermione smiled.
"It's okay, Miss Granger." He nodded to her.
"Just call me Hermione please. That's my name after all." Hermione begged.
"Okay, Hermione. If it makes you more comfortable, you may call me Severus. But of course just when we're here, otherwise I will have to deduct points from Gryffindor."
Severus couldn't understand himself sometimes. Why was he having this silly conversation with know-it-all-Granger? "Now excuse me, I got better things to do." Wrong. He didn't have better things to do than talking to Hermione. At least that was what he truly wanted, deep inside. But as always, his brain won, never his heart. Severus went to the desk, and started to sort out all the papers in piles.
Hermione thought she should check out her room, very curious how it looked like. Now when she'd seen the living room, she wasn't very surprised when she saw her room. It was a cosy room, a big red bed, a desk, and a dark-brown wardrobe. Beside the bed there was a window, probably done with magic to light up the room. She found that all her clothes already were put in the wardrobe, probably by the elves, and her school books were on the desk. The fact that Severus was having pretty good taste was surprising. Maybe these weeks weren't going to be like hell… just almost, Hermione thought.