Warning

This story is not suitable for readers under the age of seventeen. It contains sexual content, including some non-consensual, and may offend some readers. If this subject is offensive to you, please do not read this story.

Chapter 9 - A Tangled Web

The door to the dungeon classroom was left slightly ajar as the Headmaster exited, leaving the Potions Master alone.

Oh, God. He knows.

Dumbledore had not been there long - he had called in to discuss a matter relating to inter-house co-operation between prefects (something with which the Slytherins appeared to have a great deal of difficulty) - and had mentioned nothing relating to Hermione, but Snape was convinced that he knew.

He tried to think back to what had been said immediately before Dumbledore arrived. She had called him Severus. Could it have been heard? Depending on when he had first arrived, the Headmaster could have heard part or all of their earlier conversation. Snape had said something about telling Dumbledore what had happened, and before that, there was the whole incident with the slamming door and the shouting. Worst of all, if the headmaster had been on his way into the classroom at the wrong moment, he could have heard Hermione's statement about being raped, and had the door slammed in his face!

Hermione had told him that she would not tell anyone about what happened, but what good was that if the secret got out by accident? A few days ago, Snape had accepted Dumbledore's knowledge of the situation as inevitable, then, for reasons unknown, he had been granted an unexpected reprieve. Now he was back in the same situation, having to face his actions once again.

And yet - nothing had been said about it once Hermione had left. It was possible that his worries were groundless. The door had been closed, and, towards the end at least, they had been speaking quietly. Maybe Dumbledore had heard nothing, and what Snape was feeling was simply paranoia. Surely, the subject was such a serious one that it would have been brought up on the spot if anything had been overheard?

But no - this was Dumbledore! The wizard had a way of knowing things that he couldn't possibly know. He had an uncanny insight into - well, everything - including minds. Surely no deception could elude him?

He knows.

The words rang, once more, in Snape's mind. His thoughts came full circle, and he found himself again wondering how much had been overheard of his conversation with Hermione. For hours, the arguments looped in his head - one minute convincing himself that his days, and even hours, at Hogwarts were numbered - the next berating himself for his paranoid suspicion of the world.

Even in his moments of hope, assuming Dumbledore knew nothing, whatever happened or did not happen between himself and Hermione Granger, this was only the start of the lies and deceptions that would, inevitably, play a part. To him, this was commonplace - he would not have survived his own past if he were not an accomplished master of deception - but to bring her into it was wrong. He had done her enough damage without forcing her to lie to her friends and bring herself to his level.

The thought that Dumbledore may have overheard began to lose its sting. Maybe that would be the best thing all round.

Hermione's thoughts were following a similar path. Over and over again, she repeated the exchange in her head, picturing Professor Dumbledore's horrified face outside the door as he listened to the conversation he had inadvertently interrupted. Like Snape, she felt sure that if he really had overheard anything, he would have said so immediately, but like Snape, she couldn't help but feel that the old professor always seemed to know what was going on, whether he heard or not.

What had he said to Severus after she'd gone? Maybe he had wanted to confront him about it without her there. As the time moved on, she became more and more convinced that this couldn't be the case, though. She was sure she would have heard something if this had happened, but the possibility still made her mind reel.

What the experience did for Hermione, despite her agonizing apprehension, was re-enforce her decision to stay silent. She didn't know why the thought of Dumbledore knowing sickened her so much, but she realized, more than ever, that she wanted the events of the last few days to remain between Severus and herself. The thought of him leaving the school left her cold.

Hermione had a big advantage over Snape, in the fact that she was surrounded by friends. Not that she could confide in them, of course, but having to give the appearance of normality kept her mind from dwelling constantly on the thought of having been overheard. Ron and Harry's concerns about her behavior that day had filled her with guilt about the deception she was forced to maintain. There was nothing she could do to prevent that, but she could, at least, not aggravate the situation by arousing further suspicion.

They had asked, naturally, what Snape had wanted to talk to her about, and she had told them they had discussed the authentic preparation of the ingredients she would need for her potions. At least it was partially true. One thing she was beginning to learn was that Harry and Ron were not only difficult for her to lie to, but difficult to fool. She had tried to avoid saying too much about where she was going and what she was doing, but even so, she had almost tripped herself up a few times. She had heard a phrase, somewhere - Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive! Being a compulsive truth-teller, its meaning had never really occurred to her, but now it had suddenly become very relevant. She took it to heart, and, with this in mind, told her friends that she would be spending the next couple of evenings in the dungeon, working on her project.

Unfortunately, this also brought her attention back to the earlier events, and the incessantly looping thoughts of what Professor Dumbledore might or might not have heard. She had not intended to head back to the dungeon that evening, but when Snape did not appear in the Great Hall for dinner, and she was unable to glean anything from surreptitious glances at the Headmaster, she made an excuse of needing a book from the library and told Ron and Harry that she would be back in half an hour.

It was an incredible relief to hear that Dumbledore had said nothing to Severus. He had seemed reassured to see her, and she hated to think what he had been going through, assuming that it was far worse for him than for her.

They spoke for only a few minutes - Hermione not wanting to be too long before returning to the Gryffindor common room, where her friends expected her - but it gave both of them a little strength. Before Dumbledore had interrupted them, their anger with each other had almost subsided, and the thought of such a close call had made it seem irrelevant.

"I told Ron and Harry I'd be working on my Potions project tomorrow evening, so I'll come back then - - - if that's okay with you," she added.

"Of course that is acceptable, Ms. Granger," he said stiffly. "You may work on your project at any time." For a moment, she was taken aback, until she noticed the glint in his eye. "Good night, Hermione."

She was almost at the door when, on a sudden impulse, she turned back to him. "I'm sorry about earlier," she said. Moving quietly round his desk, where he sat, she bent to kiss his cheek. "Goodnight, Severus."

The events of the day preyed on their minds that night, but for both, the prevailing thought was of what tomorrow would bring.