Warning

This story is not suitable for readers under the age of sixteen. 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 23 – The Rose

It took several weeks for things to settle a little between Hermione, Ron and Harry. The first week was particularly tough, with barely a word spoken, but Hermione was relieved when, seeing her appear in the common room one morning of the second weekend, they offered her a quiet "Breakfast?" and the three of them headed for the Great Hall together. Things were not as they had been before, of course, but at least they were talking again. Harry and Ron seemed to understand how bad things would be for Hermione if anyone else knew about the relationship, and they gave their word that they would say nothing. The fact that public knowledge would hurt Hermione as well as Snape seemed to disappoint Ron tremendously, as it meant that at could not be used against the Potions Master, but he reluctantly accepted this, and agreed not to cause problems.

The first Potions Lesson, only three days after the fight, began with a tense moment when the looks between students and teacher as Ron and Harry entered the room had been full of hatred. Hermione had held her breath for an anxious moment, as the three of them paused, before the two boys took their seats.

During the lesson, Snape responded calmly to Malfoy's question about his bruised face, explaining that he had had an accident during the weekend, but not going into details. He used the opportunity, though, to remark on Harry's injuries. "I see that Mr. Potter also has some scars from the weekend," he mocked. "Brawling, Potter?" Harry glared but said nothing, and Snape turned away with a sneer. "You really should learn to control that temper."

Hermione wasn't sure that baiting Harry was the wisest thing to do, given his state of mind, but this was no more or less than the class would expect from the teacher, and no-one seemed to make a connection between the bruising on the two of them. And why should they, she wondered? The idea of Harry and Snape fighting was too ridiculous for anyone to consider, even given their well-known enmity. Only Hermione seemed to notice the change in the way they looked at each other – Severus now seemed to have a little more respect, however carefully hidden, for Harry, and the student, in his turn was more able to meet the teacher's eyes in resentful defiance of his sneering comments.

Potions lessons after this had been tense, but mostly uneventful. Snape continued with his usual practice of pouring praise on the Slytherins and derision on Gryffindors, respectively awarding and deducting house points at every opportunity. Hermione was the subject of much amusement from the Slytherin students, when she fell victim to Snape's icy tongue for a piece of work that was, according to him, inadequate, badly written and showing practically no understanding of the subject matter.

"I will begin to regret my approval of your sixth-year project, Miss Granger," he snarled at her, "if this is the standard to which your work has slipped as a result." He tossed a handful of scrolls onto her desk, allowing one of them to roll off and fall to the ground with a clatter. "If I didn't know better, I would almost believe these were written by Longbottom."

As a matter of fact, Hermione's project had been progressing extremely well. Many evenings had been spent working in companionable silence in the dungeon – often with the two other students choosing Potions for their projects. After a frighteningly close call just before Halloween, Thomas' work on antidotes was now proving, thankfully, more than a match for Alex's poison brewing capabilities.

In deference to Dumbledore's comments about secrecy, the lovers had taken more care about covering their tracks. Hermione had spent many nights in Severus' arms, but they had carefully ensured that she was safely back in her own room before anyone else in the Gryffindor tower had stirred. In part, this was also to prevent further trouble being caused between Hermione and her friends. Although little was being said about Snape, once they were speaking to her again, she did not want to provide constant reminders of the situation, by allowing them to see her returning early in the mornings.

They had not avoided the subject altogether, though, and Hermione had at least had the opportunity to explain that Severus – they flinched at the name – had a side to him that was gentle and not at all the (in Ron's words) 'evil git' that they thought they knew. She had not planned on telling them about Professor Dumbledore, but when Ron asked if anyone else knew, she found that she could not lie to them. They were horrified to hear his comments, but the headmaster's assessment of Hermione's ability to make her own decisions seemed to give them some food for thought. They agreed to follow his lead, but preferred not to hear too much about it, which Hermione thought was the best arrangement, all-in-all.

As the end of November approached, things finally seemed to be getting closer to normal, as the two asked for Hermione's assistance with their own 'project' of finding the passage to the lake. Despite their agreement at Halloween, all of their explorations in the dungeon had been by the boys alone, carefully avoiding the area of the Bloody Baron's portrait. They explained to her about how they had found themselves in the Potions classroom that night, and she had shuddered at the thought of running into the Bloody Baron. Their explorations had proved fruitless, and they realized that they needed more information to narrow down the search. Hermione hit upon the idea of asking Nearly Headless Nick, but he was unable to help them. They had hoped that his knowledge of the castle would prove useful, but at their question about the area where the Bloody Baron had been spotted, he clammed up completely, and began to avoid all conversation about the dungeons.

"Marvelous," said Ron, disappointed. "You always think that living people are supposed to be frightened by ghosts, but the other ghosts seem more frightened of the Baron than we are. What can he do to them?" he demanded. "Kill them again?"

But all argument proved hopeless, and they eventually gave up on Nick and followed Hermione's lead to head back to the library.

An event that made Hermione happier than she had been since the night of discovery was Gryffindor's first Quidditch match of the year. Slytherin and Hufflepuff had already played, during the first weekend in November, with Slytherin winning (with several rather dubious and underhand moves) by almost two hundred points. Now was the match between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, and Hermione watched from the stands with Ron, Neville and Hagrid. Even for Hermione, who had never fully grasped (or cared about, despite her brief romance with Victor Krum) the intricacies of the game, it was amazing to watch. It was a hard fought battle, with Ravenclaw having a strong team of chasers, who were pushing ahead and kept widening the gap between the scores. It had reached two hundred and forty to Ravenclaw and one hundred and twenty to Gryffindor, with no sign of the snitch. With the opposition a hundred and twenty points ahead, Gryffindor could not afford to lose more, or even the capture of the snitch would not save the game. At last, a streak of red flashed across the pitch, hurtling towards the ground at an amazing speed. Harry had seen the Snitch. Ron grabbed Hermione's arm as he stood, his eyes focused unwaveringly on the zooming broom, then, as Harry swerved at the last minute, and shot into the air in triumph, Ron turned to her and threw his arms around her in excitement. She hugged him back, fiercely, and when they pulled apart, he smiled at her – a genuinely warm smile – for the first time in several weeks. Talking excitedly with Harry, on the way back to the school, Ron even managed to joke with her.

"Great job, Harry," he grinned. "It's just a good thing you weren't playing against Slytherin. I'm not quite sure which team Hermione would have been cheering for!"

She was worried for a second, until she saw the expression on his face, then punched him playfully. "Don't worry," she laughed. "When it comes to Gryffindor versus Slytherin at Quidditch, Severus Snape is on his own!"

Heading back to her room, after a long evening of laughing by the fire in the Gryffindor common room, Hermione was surprised to find a single red rose on her pillow. The stem was wrapped in ribbons of green and silver – the Slytherin colours. There was no note, but she smiled. Severus had some work to finish tonight and did not want any 'distractions' ("Me, a distraction?" she had asked, innocently, at the time), so they had agreed that she they would sleep apart.

Placing the rose in a glass of water beside her bed, she sniffed the fragrant petals. "You're turning into quite a romantic, Severus Snape!" she said softly.

The next morning, Hermione managed to sneak a smile to Severus as he left the Great Hall after breakfast, then hurried down to the dungeon to see him. He was in his office, and she closed the door before rushing over to perch on his lap. She wrapped her arms about his neck, and kissed him, lovingly.

"I missed you last night, Severus," she told him, as his arms encircled her and he held her tightly.

"Indeed?" was his only reply.

She ran her fingers into his hair, wishing she could do more. "I can't stay long," she said, regretfully. "I said I'd meet Ron and Harry in the library, but I wanted to come and thank you for the rose."

His response surprised her. "What rose?"

She assumed that he was teasing her, but – no – the expression on his face was serious. "The rose on my pillow, last night."

Clearly, he was not joking, and knew nothing about this. "I didn't leave you a rose, Hermione." He tipped his head back a little, and looked at her with an expression she was not sure she liked. "It would seem that you have a secret admirer."

She smiled and kissed him again. "Very puzzling. But you know that I love you – I could never want anyone but you, Severus." A playful glint came into her eyes, "And I do love a mystery!"