Chapter 2 : One withers, another grows
Saturday detention did not appeal to her. Who would it appeal to? But this seemed so much worse than ordinary circumstances. All week she had tried, to no avail, to erase the memory of that dream, no... nightmare, from her mind.
It had been so bad that for two nights she had gotten little to no sleep for fear of seeing his hooked nose once again. The lack of sleep was beginning to take its toll. She splashed the cold water onto her face and rubbed her cheeks to keep from falling asleep. She looked at her reflection as she dried off her skin.
Her face was pale... ash white, and her eyes had transformed from the color of caramel to a murky coffee. The dark raccoon circles that surrounded her face looked like two black eyes against her milk white skin.
What was she to do with herself? She had had nightmares before, but this one had been so real. She could swear she had felt the tingling sensation in the pit of her stomach as his fingers played with her hair. It scared her to be this vulnerable to a man she had loathed for so long. The mere sight of him had began to make her memory jolt back to the dream.
Hermione was scared out of her wits. Professor Snape was everything she had thought she had never wanted. Why was her logic giving her cause to question it all now?
IIII
His eyes were out of focus and his breathing had slowed. He finally felt the tension in his body release. The familiar feeling of sleep began to overtake his body but he did not fight it.
His heavy eyelids finally closed over his dark raven eyes. There was no images... just plain darkness. He began to fall deeper into sleep and his pulse began to race.
There was her face. Not even he could call her beautiful. She had a plainness about her, for she wore no makeup. Her eyes were her best asset. That soft brown, that reminded him of toffee candies from his youth. He supposed that if you could get past her poor attitude and climb over her useless knowledge, one could see her as attractive.
His body reached for her. She smiled at him. Her smile lit up her face and made his heart slow down again.
"You're my student." He stated matter-of-factly.
"You're my teacher." She said. He smirked.
"What are you thinking of?" she asked as her eyebrows came together in a mock look of concern.
"I'm thinking of this." He said looking around. There was nothingness. All blackness surrounded them. They were alone... together. "I'm dreaming." He stated.
"Yes... so am I." Hermione said.
"I despise you." he spoke softly, yet his deep baritone still echoed off of the emptiness.
"I know." she laughed, "I hate you. but I hate myself too." she spoke sadly.
Severus had not expected this. He had known she was human. That she felt like all people do...But he was not expecting her to show her vulnerability... least of all to him.
"Is this real?" He asked suddenly. He turned around and took a few steps. "I mean, Granger, I know I'm here. Or at least my subconscious is... but is yours here too?" He looked at her, a bit afraid. Yet his face remained stone-like in contempt for his company.
"I don't know." She glanced at the ground, or really, the lack there of.
"I can't seem to fathom this. I may only be dreaming you... or vise versa. Or we could be dreaming, both of us, of each other. Who really knows?"
He laughed. She had not expected this.
"Miss Granger." Her name rolled off of his tongue like velvet, "Even in your dreams you let logic rule you."
"Professor Snape," She attempted to show him she could be a bit dangerous. She was safe in her dreaming, after all. "You let it rule you too. But only because you have no others way to be."
His anger began to boil, "And you do?"
Her eyes opened. Fear did not consume her, but questions filled her mind.
IIII
What the bloody hell was that? He asked himself. Another dream, Snape thought, about her.
At least this one wasn't so pleasant. He laughed into his pillow. But what was it exactly?