Chapter 7: "It Tickles"
Snape had no trouble entering Hermione's mind. In fact, he felt as if he were floating on the softest silk as he entered.
"Professor, is that you?" he heard Hermione whisper.
"It is," he whispered back.
He felt Hermione giggle. Part of him drew in the fresh feel of her laughter; it bathed him in pure delight; and yet part of him was perplexed.
"Why are you giggling?" he queried.
"Your voice tickles," she said playfully.
He smiled, "My voice tickles? Nobody has ever said that before."
"Well, it does. And I'm sorry that nobody's told you that before. It seems to me that if somebody had, you might…"
"Might? Might, what?" he wanted to know.
"I don't know exactly. There aren't exactly words for it. You feel so close and comfortable," she went on.
"Your friend Potter found it rather unpleasant, you know," he mentioned to her.
"Oh, it's not unpleasant at all," she remarked. "What are you feeling?"
Now the shoe was on the other, man's, foot. Perplexed came storming back to the center of his attention.
"Hmm…" he started which caused her to giggle again. "Hmm…" produced more giggles.
Snape found he was rather enjoying this after all. "Hmm…" he went again.
Hermione was laughing now, and Snape found that it was contagious. They sat on the bed laughing together for five minutes, until tears began streaming down both their faces. Becoming aware of the lack of decorum, Snape broke it off suddenly. Hermione lurched toward him, collapsing into his chest.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Severus," she apologized. "I don't know what came over me," she blushed furiously.
"No, Hermione. You've nothing to apologize for," he found himself saying. "I broke the spell too quickly."
"Can we do that again, some time?" she wanted to know. "I don't know about you, but I feel completely refreshed and something else that I can't place just now."
"Yes, I think that might be in order," he responded before he knew what he was saying. Deep within, he had felt…felt accepted, maybe even cared for, dare he say it, loved for himself. Feeling thus, he drifted into a restful sleep. Hermione felt as if she had somehow conveyed to this man what the difference between compassion and pity was. Perhaps, he could now let down some of his defenses as he had asked her to do. She thought that this was a man whom she would want to know better. She got the barest notion of the depths of him and of his wounds. She knew that she could make it better.
Snape slept until noon when Dobby brought up lunch and more treatment options from Madam Pomfrey. Hermione had reported the disastrous bath time experience. For lunch, a chowder and sandwich seemed to hit the spot for both patient and caregiver. After lunch, Hermione applied the newest ointments to Snape's many gashes that had actually begun to heal. She started on his back first.
"You know, Severus, I think that potion in the bath was far more effective than the other things we've tried," she began.
He grumbled a little, "Let's not start that again…"
"Start what?" she innocently wanted to know.
"You know, Hermione…"
She leaned over to look him in the eye, "No, I'm afraid I don't."
"I just don't feel comfortable in that tub with you there," he finally admitted.
"Oh for Heaven's sake, Severus, the water was opaque!" she said with a bit of disgust in her tone.
"Well…" he blustered a bit, "You are a woman!"
She looked him dead in the eyes again, "Thanks for noticing," and she returned to applying ointment to his wounds. "Tomorrow, we'll try bath time again, only I'll stay on the other side of the curtain until you ask for me. Okay?"
He mumbled something unintelligible.
"What was that, Severus," more a statement than question.
"Fine," was his terse reply.
"If you don't like that, I could get somebody else…Hagrid maybe? No, how about Harry or Ron?" she teased and felt his body go rigid. "No, how about Madam Pomfrey or the Headmistress?"
He growled deep in his throat, "No. You'll be fine. Satisfied?"
He rolled over and found himself being touched on his chest by the gentlest of hands. Hermione applied the salve quickly and efficiently then assisted him in getting his top buttoned and adjusted the way he wanted it.
"Rest for a bit, then it's up for a walk around the room again," she let him know as she returned to her studies as she had promised McGonagall.
Harry came up with Dobby for dinner, "Hey, Hermione, I've missed you since you've sequestered yourself up here with the Professor."
She gave him a peck on the cheek, "How goes the rest of the war?"
"The aurors gave Voldemort, sorry sir," he saw Snape listening intently, "You-Know-Who's Death Eaters a run for it at the Muggle Parliament. Tonks said they intercepted the Death Easters as they apparated into the building. Remus was hit, but he'll be fine. Four Death Eaters were killed outright and another three captured and sent to Azkaban."
The mention of Azkaban made Snape cringe.
"Not to worry, Professor," Harry offered happily, "nobody really knows where we've got you hidden. Besides, Professor McGonagall will get them to see what happened and why it happened that way."
Snape simply nodded and looked pensively at Hermione.
"Look, I'm not happy with how it turned out. I looked up to Professor Dumbledore, too, you know. And, there was a time, I would have happily fed you in pieces to the MerPeople in the Lake. But I've also come to the realization that if I hate you, I make myself less able to defeat him."
"You have courage, Potter. I will give you that," Snape mentioned. "I just wish you were not so reckless in the exercise of said courage."
"Harry, Severus has taught me a little bit about legilimency. I know he tried to teach you occlumency, and that did not exactly work. Perhaps if you and I worked together after I practice with him, you could get better at blocking out You-Know-Who. It's worth a try, don't you think?" she asked, "What do you think, Severus?"
Snape raised an eyebrow in disbelief while Harry mulled it over.
"How would you propose we do this, exactly," asked both men.
"Simple," began Hermione. "Severus, you and I will work on my legilimency skills. Then I will test Harry on his occlumency skills. That way, neither of you has to deal directly with the other."
Harry looked at Snape who looked at Harry, "This sounds crazy, Hermione," said Harry.
"I don't know, Potter," Snape mused. "She might actually have a working structure that could be useful. Professor Dumbledore very much wanted you to learn how to block the Dark Lord out of your mind. Since he was not able to teach you after we failed…" he drifted off a moment. "I think this just might work. Yes, Hermione, you may have found a good middle ground."
Hermione beamed joyfully. Snape was looking forward to continuing the intimacy with this bright young mind. He told himself that her mind was much less messy than Potter's had been. She was well ordered and a pleasure…besides, he found her compassion irresistibly soothing to his psyche, although he was loathe to admit it. He could only hope that he did not alienate her too much as this exercise proceeded. That was his one new greatest fear.