Concern

Of course Ron had been right, he was always right. Severus hated himself for standing on the hillock again, watching her on his own for the first time. Weasley wasn't there in the darkness with him to share his self-loathing. Alone, for the first time, Severus looked up at the window: watching her, listening to her silence, and wanting her so badly it hurt. He was tired of the hurt, the pain that she gave him, but he couldn't bear to give it up. Pain, after all, is better than nothing.

Hermione looked out the window. Her eyes sought out the figure who was so black that the night seemed grey as it wrapped itself around him. He was standing there as usual, seeming to take up more space than was possible for one man to.

Severus could feel her eyes lock onto him. He would look away from the window when she turned back to her lover, as she always did. He would go home, return to his dungeons and sit there, in the enveloping darkness. He'd leave when she looked away…

…but she didn't, not tonight. Tonight she stared at him as Harry moved above her and Severus became rooted to the spot, fixed with her stare. What eventually shook him from his stupor, his fixation, was not her eventual refusal to look away, but the scream that rent the night, penetrating his darkness.

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The next morning, however, Severus was left pacing. The scream from the night before had signalled not only the awakening of several Hufflepuff in their cellar dormitory, but also something that left both Professor Snape and the rest of the Seventh Year shocked and appalled.

Finally being allowed admission, Severus stalked into the circular office stopping just short of Dumbledore's desk, "Headmaster, I demand that someone be sent to check on the wellbeing of Hermione Granger, immediately."

Dumbledore, in his most serious manner, raised an eyebrow and looked at the Potions Master, "And why would that be, Professor Snape?"

Of course Dumbledore would do his best to remind Severus of his place in the castle. He was a Professor and, as such, not allowed to fraternise with the students. The Headmaster, as always, knew everything that went on in the school, presumably including both Hermione and Severus' nightly rendezvous.

The older man gazed over his half-moon spectacles at Snape who was fuming, "Because, Sir, she has failed to attend any of her classes today."

A half hour later, Lavender Brown was dispatched to Hermione's room to make sure that her fellow Gryffindor was alright.

"Don't be anxious, Severus. It isn't becoming." Dumbledore's eyes held no pity for the Potion's Master and his voice betrayed no pity for the man, "Go back to your dungeons, Professor Snape. Hermione Granger is of no great concern to you." With a meaningful and warning look, Severus Snape was dismissed from the Headmaster's office.

Turning, Severus walked from the room, billowing as much as he dared under Dumbledore's watchful eye. Potter had also skived off his classes with Snape, but the Potions Master did not feel himself pressed to report this to the Headmaster. Truth be told, Severus was already regretting going to the Headmaster about Hermione's absences. Dumbledore knew too much as it was.

The students who had been appalled with the Potion Master's mood in his morning classes suddenly counted themselves lucky when the afternoon students spread horror stories of their ow. As the afternoon progressed, Snape's mood became blacker than the cauldrons he watched over so carefully, taking point from all houses, including his own. Even the other teachers steered clear, leaving a chair-wide berth on either side of him during lunch.

Those who knew Snape and had overheard the earlier conversation between Lavender and Parvati, as he had, may have understood his dark mood:

"He really, finally did it? Just last night?"

"That's what Hermione said. Oh, isn't it romantic?"

"She's such a lucky girl. Imagine! Hermione Granger engaged to Harry Potter!"

The next afternoon the shock still hadn't worn off. She's Engaged. Potter was sitting in his usual seat in the back, although Hermione was nowhere to be seen.

As he walked by the tables in the back, Severus couldn't keep the blood from rising as he heard Potter whispering with Weasley, an insufferable smirk plastered across his face, "It was completely brilliant! You know how I told you that she's usually real quiet? Well, that's how I knew that things had changed last night. So I asked her and she agreed." She Engaged.

Ron's eyes turned to the Professor as he was looming over the table, ostensibly checking the consistency of their potions. Severus noted a blank, almost dead look in the other man's eyes.

With a well placed sneer to cover his lingering, Snape turned his dark mood on Harry, "Ten points from Gryffindor, Potter. There will be no whispering in my class." Suddenly pretending to notice that Hermione was not to be seen, he added, "And another ten for Ms. Granger's absence. I will no accept skiving in my N.E.W.T. class." She's Engaged. With a swirl of his robes, Snape returned to his desk, letting the hardness of his eyes cover the emptiness he was feeling.

That night, however, Severus returned to the hillock, nearly making himself sick with his own actions. He couldn't believe he was allowing himself to come out here again, to once again override his sense of decency. A cloaked figure loomed ahead of his, standing on their bare mound of earth. With a curt nod, Severus acknowledged Ron.

It was Hermione's hand, however, that pulled back the hood. Her face shone pale and blank in the moonlight, revealing no emotion.

Severus' eyes grew cold, "Why him, Hermione? Why Potter?"

One of Hermione's eyebrows went up, "I thought that would be obvious. I chose Harry, of course, because he asked me."

Snape scowled, "I didn't think you wanted him." The inflection of his voice intended to remind her of the other night as she lay in her own bed and watched him watching her.

"I would think that you of all people understood the difference between knowing what you want, Severus, and reaching out to take it with both hands."

He wasn't going to let her lecture him on taking what he wanted. Moving right in close to her, Severus laid a cold hand on her shoulder and looked down into her dark eyes, "Tell me you're happy, Hermione."

He could see it happen as if in slow motion. The mask she wore in the school slipped perfectly into place. She was suddenly Hermione Granger: perfect student, Head Girl, and Harry Potter's fiancé, "Goodness, Professor Snape, of course I'm happy! I thought everyone had heard. I know that at least three of the Hufflepuff fourth years heard the other night." She batted her eyelashes, incensing the Potions Master, making him want to hit her, curse her, anything to take that mask off her face.

A wicked, cold look stole over his features as Severus went in for the kill, "Then why is it that you can only scream for him when you're looking down at me?"

Hermione's features iced over. She moved away from his as if burned, "Don't ever touch me again, Severus."

Snape's hand flew out and gripped her bicep tightly, pulling her body flush against his own, "Oh, I don't know Hermione. I have a funny feeling you don't really mean that." He pressed his body roughly into her own, "You want me to touch you."

Hermione's hands found purchase on his chest and she shoved him back, hard. Disgust was written plainly on both their faces. Want had nothing to do with this, "Good-bye, Professor." She reached back and pulled the hood over her head, turning her back on him and walking to the castle.

As he watched her retreat, Severus imagined himself reaching out to her and taking hold of her arm (gently this time). He'd pull her back and tell her, finally. He'd tell her how much he needed her, loved her. He'd tell Hermione anything to keep her from returning to that dorm room and letting Potter violate her again. He knew that she would not look for him from her bedroom window tonight or any other night, not again.

However, Severus just stood there, watching her walk away from him again, feeling something inside of him tear.