Chapter Three: Trust
Present Day:
Another day had flown passed and Minerva was becoming worse and worse for wear. "She did not wish to speak to either of us" Minerva held her face in her hands. "She said that?"
"The guards did. They refused to even let us look at her, saying she's refusing any visitors. What have they done to her? My poor girl" She sniffed, tears streaming down her cheeks. Severus simply held his hankerchief out to her. She took it and wiped her nose before leaning back in her chair.
"I have informed Kingsley what has occurred. Hopefully, he may have another plan to get her out of there" Severus nodded before moving round to his glass and Daily Prophet. He sighed, more pictures unfolding of the girl. Stories now of her early years now twisted into what seemed like a horror film. Described her being some sort of a trouble-maker (well that she was).
"Is that more news?" Minerva asked sipping her tea as she leaned back in her chair. "Indeed, nothing new though" He unfolded the paper to see a picture of a younger version of Hermione, smiling with her two dunder-heads of friends. It was a picture of them in school and in the background - "Oh dear, I had completely forgotten. Merlin how could I have forgotten"
Severus arched his eyebrow up at her, "forget what woman?"
"Hermione's cat,"
"You mean that beast in the photo"
"Severus, please. It is Hermione's familiar and he means a great deal to her"
"Obviously not enough if she refused to leave the country without the mangy animal"
"Severus would you mind heading around Miss Granger's home to pick up her cat"
Severus glared at the woman annoyed. "And why prey-tell would I do that?" He asked.
"Severus!" She glared at him through tired eyes. "Alright fine" He threw his paper down on the side before moving over to the floo. "But that's it" She smiled and nodded at him.
He ended up just outside the door of her apartment and sighed. He flicked his wand towards the door knob opening her apartment. No wards. Not anymore at least. Auror's must have already searched her place. As soon as he stepped into her apartment he confirmed his theory. Her whole apartment had been thrown into disarray. Papers strewn all over the floor, plates still in the sink and- "Meow" Her cat, likely in her bedroom.
"Hold on a minute Crooks. I'll feed you in a second" Severus withdrew his wand and entered the bedroom. "What? POTTER?" Severus glared at the man who had several boxes of paperwork stacked up on Hermione's bed. "Snape? What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing?" Harry glared at the man as he withdrew his wand. "If you must know. I am here to collect Ms Granger's familiar. The Headmistress has requested the feral creature"
"So she sent you? poor Crookshanks" Harry smirked as he patted the ginger cat who laid on the bed. "Surprised she hadn't asked for him earlier. He's been here alone for the passed few days. He's managed to raid the pantry of just about everything"
"So you were here to pick it up also?"
"Him and no. I was just cleaning up Hermione's things for when she comes back"
"If she comes back? if you hadn't heard Potter, the know-it-all's facing a life sentence" Harry glared at the stone cold man in front of him. "How can you say things like that about her? She saved your life!"
"And in doing so has forced me to have this conversation. From the way I see it, the girl owes me 10 minutes of my life that I am never going to get back chatting with you" Severus inspected the rest of the room and noticed the queen size bed in the centre of the room followed by stacks of books on the shelves and more paperwork strewn all over the floor. "She'll be back, Snape. This is all a big misunderstanding once Fudge realises that Hermione had nothing to do with that man's murder-"
"Once Fudge realizes? Potter have you not met the man? I can't imagine he wanted a muggle-born acting as a top-auror and no-less an Unspeakable prancing around in the first place. From rumour, I heard that she had been working with the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures trying to get some mundane law passed for better quality of life for house-elves and werewolves" Severus rolled his eyes remembering Minerva prattling on about her Protege. He thought back to Draco and wished he'd ended up doing more with his life. He ended up becoming a businessman/entrepreneur and working with his father (his money of course) to try and sell item's for profit. He was also in tight with the ministry. Just like his father.
"You think Fudge did this?"
Severus was silent. "I don't believe the Minister had any interest in attempting to stop or exonerate your little side-kick Potter" Severus sneered. Harry growled in anger before jumping over the bed and punching Snape straight in the jaw. Blood pissed down his face as Harry jumped on him. "Don't you ever speak about her like that" Harry tried to throw another punch at the dark haired man but he threw him off him and shoved the young wizard away. Harry flew into the coffee table, snapping it into pieces. "That girl was destined to have nothing but trouble with you in the picture, Potter" Severus growled between the blood pouring down his nose. "Even you know that" He sneered. Harry stared at him with such rage, his Auror cloak crumpled behind him. He stared over to his best-friend and partner's now ruined room and sighed. "Just grab the cat and leave Snape. You've done enough to Hermione's home already"
Severus glared at the man for a second before picking the ginger lump up by the scruff of it's neck. "Don't hold him like that. Merlin, didn't anyone ever teach you to pick up a cat"
"I don't see a carrier anywhere Potter"
"Hermione didn't own one after the Wizarding War. Crooks tends to lay on people's shoulders" Severus sighed as he wrapped the cat around his neck being careful to avoid the scar tissue. He began to walk out of the house before he heard the sounds of broken glass under his shoe. He looked down, moving his foot aside to see the picture frame now in ruin. He groaned as he bent down and picked up the piece and inspected the picture. It was a moving photo at Hermione's Graduation from Hogwarts. She was smiling and happy as she stood with Minerva an arm wrapped tightly around her. Severus turned to see Potter, still dressed in his work clothes fixing the broken coffee table. The potions master deposited the picture in his pocket before looking up at the rest of the photos hanging from the wall. There were pictures of the Golden Trio laughing happily together as next Auror graduates. Hermione with Minerva at her college graduation alongside a certificate of her degree in potions.
There were a few other pictures, cut-outs of newspaper clippings from some of their more successful investigations, including several death-eaters who had attempted to flee from the country, one being Dolohov in particular. Severus smirked at the girl's accomplishments and just before leaving spotted her Department of Magical Law Enforcement overcoat that was dark grey on the outside with gold lining the stiches. Inside, of course was a Gryffindor red much like Harry's overcoat that he was currently wearing. He however noticed the large amount of dust that had accumulated on the jacket itself, as though it hadn't been worn in ages. "Granger decide to quit Law Enforcement?" Severus asked Potter as he continued to clean the room up. He glared at the man for a second, expecting an insult but nothing came. "Hermione received a promotion to Unspeakable and was moved to the Department of Mysteries"
"Minerva never mentioned it"
"She only transferred there maybe five or six months ago. I think she got tired of chasing Death-Eater's all the time and she was butting heads with Gawain Robards, he's head of the Department"
"What was she butting heads about?"
Harry shrugged. "We had an issue with the last criminal we bought in. The bastard managed to land a crucio on her and she suffered pretty badly for it. Started to get bad nightmares, wasn't sleeping at all and her hands couldn't stop shaking. She was taking potions for it but Gawain decided that it was too risky for her to be out in her condition and split the two of us up as partners. He put her on as a desk-jockey for a while" Severus smirked not surprised the girl would have had a field day arguing with the poor bastard who was her boss. "We had a few arguments with him, I mean, Hermione and I are partners. Best Auror's in the business, he got sick of it. Hermione was forced into a white collar position which she hated and I think the Unspeakables noticed. They offered her a job and she took it. Had her own office and lab. She seemed pretty happy but used to work late all the time doing merlin-knows-what. I don't think anyone really saw much of her. Most of her cases were handed over to Ron and I. I think she was still working on a few of her really old ones at the time though. Her new ones kept Ron and I busy for a while"
"You didn't bother to check on her?"
"In hindsight, I would have but who could have predicted this?" His arms flailed out. Severus nodded, who could have.
Harry sighed, "Hermione deserved better. She should had just stayed in college instead of trying to look out for Ron and I all the time"
"Minerva always said Miss Granger was directionless during her last year of Hogwarts. She had pushed Granger to study and you and Weasley had pushed her to be an Auror"
"We never forced Hermione to do anything. We just thought it would be great if we were all working together" Harry shrugged, "hunting down the last of the Death-Eaters" He glared at Severus. "Gaining some major enemies along the way" Harry's eyes widened at Severus' remark. "Tell me, did you even bother to look into who you made enemies with whilst you pranced about pretending to be super hero's"
"Hermione loved being an Auror. We were really good together and made a great team and I know she loved experimenting and potions as well. She never once lost her passion for learning" Harry smiled before he placed yet another book on her vast amount of book shelves. Severus nodded, "then perhaps she should have become a professor as oppose to a thief" Harry's eyes widened at the accusation before the potion's master left.
Severus' memories, post Battle of Hogwarts:
The next day was not any better. Severus was angry to have the idiotic girl by his bedside once again. She was wearing a school shirt that appeared one size too big for her. "Please Sir. Madame Pomphrey asked me to assist you with walking today and I would really like to do this before dinner"
He glared at her in anger. "It's barely 8'oclock in the morning, if you hadn't forgotten, Miss Granger" He snarled as he grabbed the ridiculous cane they happen to have provided him. "I know" She glared at him. "But at the rate you are going Sir-"
"Do Not Backchat me Girl!" He glared at her with such hatred. She crossed her arms and glared back straight into his eyes. "Fine," she threw her hands up in the air exasperated. "Fine," she reached for her bag. "If you don't want to get better then that's just fine. I'll go and tell Madame Pomphrey right now you are refusing to get better" Severus scrunched his eyes at the thought of the bollocking from that woman he couldn't stand in his condition. Actually, he couldn't stand either of them...and this place. It brought back awful memories, he shook his head and grabbed her arm. He noticed her shudder before he stood up bearing all his weight on the cretin. "Hey!"
"Let's go Granger" He grabbed his cane and the second he tried to move his left foot, it began to cave in. He ended up collapsing on the ground, no help from the snot-nose-brat who stood above him with her arms crossed scowling. "You could have told me you were going to move, I have a wheelchair-"
"I will not be going in a wheelchair" He grabbed hold of the bed trying to stand without very much success to pull himself up. He groaned in exhaustion. "Why can't you just ask for my help?" She tried to touch him but he snapped away "I do not need your assistance, Granger. In fact, I would rather take 'Help' from Bellatrix LeStrange himself, then have to put up with you for another second"
She stumbled back at bit, eyes widened, before she caught herself. She gently rubbed her covered forearm and turned towards her bag still left on the side of her bed. "I will go inform Madame Pomphrey that I am not a suitable candidate to help you" She strode away before he was able to say anything further.
The next morning hadn't been any better for Minerva as Severus soon found out. The bloody cat seemed to cheer her up a lot more however, she still was quite out of it and was putting a lot of her time and energy lately into solving the chit's unexpected imprisonment. "What about Lucius?" Minerva asked curiously as she went through a bunch of files that were littered on Minerva's desk.
"Could he have possibly planted something in her apartment?"
"Likely. His house however, was investigated after the second wizarding war and many of his illegal artifacts were taken" She sighed as she leaned back in her chair, the ginger haired cat ever present at her side.
"This is impossible" She sighed, rubbing her tired eyes. "If we could just talk to her, I'm sure she could tell us at least part of the story instead of trying to figure everything out without some backing"
"She's been refusing all visitors?"
"I don't think they're allowing anyone to see her. It's ridiculous. I thought we had stomped out majority of the corruption. Well, until Fudge managed to get back into power" She rolled his eyes and closed another file.
"Who would even have the ability to manage to get into Hermione's private lab and her home without her knowledge?"
"You are still convinced she didn't do it?" Severus poured himself another glass of Firewhiskey as he sat in her office. "Why would she? It's not like Hermione to just-"
"Make so many incriminating mistakes?" Severus arched his eyebrow. "I understand you two have never seen eye-to-eye on anything but even you much admit this is a bit ridiculous"
"Granger was accused of stealing illegal artifects from her previous investigations into Death-Eaters. That sounds like Granger to me. And we both know she has taken people's lives in the past"
"There was a war going on we all have"
"What about after though? In her job?"
"She never spoke about it"
"Granger was hunting people that would want her and Potter dead in a second. It wouldn't surprise me if she did"
Minerva sighed rubbing her temples. "So what are you suggesting? Hermione did all of this and then tried to leave the country"
Severus leaned back. "Granger's not stupid enough to make mistakes so easily found. I reckon whoever did this just had an opportunity to exploit her. Someone who would be able to keep a close eye on her"
"What about Hermione's boss? He wasn't very forth-coming with information when they asked what she had been working on and it's likely she had procured the artifacts through him as well"
Severus rubbed his chin. "It would be worth going down to the Department of Mysteries and asking"
Minerva smiled, "I'll send Kinglsey and Harry first thing in the morning" Severus nodded as she began to write the post. He didn't notice the furred creature walk up to him until he was staring eye to eye with it and it began to purr happily. Severus rolled his eyes and patted the creature.
"Perhaps I should go in Potter's stead. The boys obviously not emotionally stable enough for this case" Minerva looked up from her paperwork to see Severus patting the creature. "You want to help Hermione?"
He shook his head. "I will help on the condition of no more Hogsmead weekends for the rest of the term" Minerva sighed, "always a catch with you Severus but fine. Tomorrow morning and please don't be late" Severus simply nodded as he continued to pat the creature who stared at him with such wide eyes.
"Mangy thing" He muttered under his breath.
Post Battle of Hogwarts:
Severus felt finally calm and peaceful as he read one of his books. He hadn't seen Granger for the previous few days and was expecting to not see her again for hopefully the remainder of his life...maybe more. "We'll still need to reconstruct the covered bridge. The Ministry of Magic has been kind enough to give us some supplies for re-erecting it and we'll need all the help we can get"
"I can help this afternoon, professor"
His booked dropped in his lap at hearing the girl approaching the hospital wing. The door immediately swing open, Minerva in conversation with Granger as she nodded her head. She was dressed a bit better today. Clothing that no longer fell from her petite figure. Instead, she seemed to have a bit more colour in her skin, was smiling and genuinely appeared somewhat happy with Minerva.
"Severus" The man rolled his eyes as the two approached him. He nodded towards them, his throat still burning in pain. "Hermione will be assisting you with your therapy today. No excuses" She turned towards the swot-of-a-girl and placed her hand on her cheek. "I will see you this evening. Try to keep Severus out of trouble" She thumbed the girl's cheek before leaving. Severus was shocked, since when had the stoic woman cared to spread her emotions around to the likes of students?
He glared at the girl remaining in front of him for a second before picking up his book. He heard her tsk behind the books and chose to ignore her. "Headmistress said I-"
"I heard her Miss Granger" He placed the book on the nightstand. "Can we please make this easier on both of us if you would just engage in therapy. That way you can be rid of me and I can be-"
"Rid of you" She bit her tongue as the words left her professors lips. "There really isn't any choice for either of us"
He growled under his breath as she extended her hand. "Please Sir" His lip arched at her in disgust but he agreed. She was right as much as he hated to admit it. No one was lining up to help him. He grabbed the girl's hand and roughly pulled himself up at the expense of her. Not that there was much to her anyway. She was basically skin and bones, not having put much on since the end of the war. Only really recently looking better. He wondered if Minerva was the main cause of that. The walked back and down the hall several times, Severus stumbling with each step as Granger held him up. She stumbled just as much. After 5minutes, he sat down and she conjured two glasses of water. "You have a new wand" He arched his eyebrow and she smiled at it. It look very similar to her old one. "The Headmistress gifted it to me" She shrugged. Severus just nodded and extended his hand towards her who gently took it. "Do you want to go back?"
"No, a few more minutes and I will be ready to properly rest" He took a large gulp of his water before watching her sip hers. He wondered what had changed with her. A few weeks ago, she was miserable and likely did not care about her personal hygiene, her clothes, her outlook on life. Now, she rejuvenated. Her hair was pinned back, likely with help from Minerva, into a tight bun and she appeared to have more of a glow in her features. A tan maybe. She was extremely pale just after the war. When did she get a tan?
"Did you want to continue on professor?"
"I believe it would be best to continue with Poppy's exercise program" She nodded and extended her hand to his. This time, he took it gently and pulled himself up. The two of them continued on like this for several weeks. Hermione coming in twice a day to see Severus. He was surprised, she had continued to spend more and more time with him and every time, she seemed to be getting better. Even Severus could admit, he himself had been feeling more at home. They had spent some time discussing recent potions articles and spells that could assist in the re-construction of Hogwarts. He had slowly gotten used to her company after some time.
In late November, Hermione passed him a walking cane. "I'm not using that!" He spat.
"Professor McGonagall does and they are quite fashionable these days" He gritted his teeth at her and crossed his arms.
"Madame Pomphrey has recommended it and-"
"what?"
"I was reading that dancing could help"
"Dancing?"
She flicked her wand towards the phonograph that sat in the corner before extending her hand. "I read it in a health and medical journal focussed on physical therapy. I know you like dancing, I saw you at the Winter Ball when I was in 4th year" He rolled his eyes but took her hand. As much as he didn't want to dance, he knew she would run if he didn't adhere to it. And her company was becoming more and more meaningful to him but the day.
He gripped her shoulder before resting his hand on her lower back. She placed his hand on her shoulder as he guided her through the steps. She wasn't the greatest dancer in the world but she knew enough to get by. She felt him stagger from time to time but remained upright as they danced.
"I don't believe we have spoken about your future, Miss Granger" He brought up, wondering why she could she had not seen her hanging around any of her friends lately. Why she had only bothered to remain in the castle. She obviously wanted to remain here. Likely to be in the library. "No, I don't believe we have. It's not something I have particularly focussed on" She looked over his shoulder.
"Were you interested in completing a potions apprenticeship or perhaps specialising in transfiguration?"
She staggered in her step before picking herself up. "I hadn't particularly thought of either. There are a lot of avenues but-"
"What? You are obviously wanting to continue on your studies"
She slowly nodded before looking at down at his chest. "I spoke to Ron and Harry and they were looking to join the Aurors. I was reluctant until they said they would be hunting Death-Eaters" He didn't like where this conversation was going. "They said they needed me and I-"
His heart-plummeted. Of course she would be leaving. Of course she would go with those complete, utter dunderheads. "Handed in my application"
"And did our esteemed Headmistress have anything to say about this"
She nodded and gulped before looking him in the eyes, "We came to an agreement that I will be studying Potions part-time to ensure I have a back-up plan, in case I no longer wish to be an Auror"
Severus nodded, slowly continuing leading her through the dance. "I will be starting at Barnsford Academy in the Fall, that will give me enough time to get used to the pass the classroom side of Auror training before starting the remaining 2.5 year apprenticeship with them"
"You should have come to me first"
"Why?"
Why would she? It was an honest question. The last few weeks, the two had become he dare say friends.
"If you wanted an apprenticeship"
"And you would have given me one?" She arched her eyebrow.
"We would have discussed it. It would be more preferable then you going off and risking your life after everything you have fought so hard to protect"
She moved away from him and looked him straight in the eye. "I still am, Ron and Harry are my only family left. If I lose them I-" She turned away tears stinging her eyes. "I don't know what I would do" He nodded. He thought she was making a horrible decision but he nodded, nonetheless.
"I'm assuming Minerva is paying for your up-keep until you are properly trained...or dead" She glared at him before pushing him away. He stumbled back a little before regaining his balance by the bed. She balled her fingers into fists before glaring at him. "This is my choice. Why don't both of you understand?"
"Sounds to me like the dunderheads have made the decision for you. As always you follow like a sheep into the wolves mouth. You will end up dead or worse trying to protect those imbessiles"
"At least that is more then you? Who do you trust other then yourself for that matter?"
You! I would have trusted you.
He remained silent, giving her her answer. Tears streamed down her face before she marched away. Severus was screwed his face up in anger at her. "You are a stupid girl if you choose to throw your life away Granger" He grabbed her wrist and pulled her into him.
"I'm not-"
"If you were not you would not be here right now discussing it"
"That is not why I am here"
"Then why? Why did you insist on saving me? Why do you constantly assist in my therapy?" He growled at her in anger. Her bottom lip twitched. Tears streaked down her face. "Answer me girl" He spat.
"I owed you"
"I beg you're pardon?"
"A life-debt. I owed you a life-debt after you saved my life and I needed to-"
He shoved her against the wall in utter anger and pain. How could she of lied to me? Betrayed me? This whole thing was a rouse. An obligation. Hermione gritted her teeth in pain as she felt the back of her head slammed against the wall.
"How dare you"
She gulped, "I couldn't just let you die!"
"Always think you know right Granger, you arrogant child"
"I did what I thought was right"
"You did what was best for you conscious. Not what was best for me" He spat in her face. Hermione tried to pull away from him but he slammed her back and gripped her wrists in his arms. "Perhaps I should have left you to deal with your wounds on your own Granger. Would have saved me the trouble with you wasting both of our lives" He gripped her chin in her hands. Hermione winced and tried to look away but he dragged her chin to face him. "Don't you dare ever come back here Granger. I have no interest in speaking to you or being in your presence any further" He pushed away from her before he saw the bandage loosen and fall from her wrist, then he saw the writing bleeding from her forearm. She tried to cover it but it was too late. He had already read it. Mudblood. Of course. Likely a present from Bellatrix. Always was her signature. And Granger, was an outcast. She bolted for it.
Severus had found out later, Hermione had been helping McGonagall with his trial. They all had, Harry included.
Him and Hermione's relationship had been strained after that. She had shown up to his trial. Presented evidence that would have him released. He never even spent time in Azkaban and had returned to teaching, sold potions on the side. Whereas she...Merlin Granger. What have you done?