Chapter 5.

That Thursday had begun exactly like every other Thursday, with him going on errands with his two personal Aurors unobtrusively watching him from afar and then losing himself between shelves among shelves full of interesting books. What he hadn't imagined was to meet again Hermione Granger inside his favourite bookstore, curled on herself on the old couch in the Erotic section, with trembling hands and red-rimmed eyes. He immediately knew she had been crying.

At first, he had thought to just turn on his heels and leave her there, he didn't want to ruin his free day comforting a weeping witch, but then a voice at the back of his mind started whispering at him. It sounded a lot like Dumbledore's really.

"Why are you crying?" he asked from afar crossing his arms and leaning against one of the shelves. "Weren't successful enough in learning from that stupid erotic book?"

She shrieked, startled from his sudden appearance. Her hair were a mess and some rebellious curls, wet from her obvious crying, had stuck to her forehead. She wasn't crying anymore but her eyes were red and puffy, and her cheeks flushed. She was a right mess, but he found himself appreciating the sight. The girl had bloomed into quite a beautiful woman and he definitely wasn't blind.

"Oh, sod off!" she exclaimed, blowing her nose into a white tissue before rubbing at her sore eyes.

"I will not be your teacher anymore, but I still expect to be shown some form of respect." He spat somewhat angry she didn't want his help. Not that he minded really, but he had saved people arses all his life without being acknowledged because he had to seem loyal to Voldemort. He was fed up with that.

"Then you should respect my wishes and leave me in peace." She said before continuing, an edge to her voice. "I seem to remember to have shown you I'm not a girl anymore, so I don't need you here to look after me like you used to do when I was a child at Hogwarts."

"I'm not totally sure you are not a girl anymore." He replied and moved to stand in front of her, his arms still crossed.

"What do you want? If you had been hoping for an easy shag after my display last week, I'm sorry to disappoint you."

Well, I wouldn't mind it really.

"A pity really, but that's not why I'm still here."

"Then pray tell, why are you here?"

"You sound a lot like me right now." He smirked impressed, then reached a hand towards her, inviting her to stand. "Come with me, you need a cup of tea."

Severus hadn't really planned to offer her a cup of tea, but that in the end had seemed the right thing to do. Tea helped relax, warmed the drinker's body and made the head calmer. He hadn't done it because he didn't like to see her sad.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked eyeing his outstretched hand.

"Do I need to have a reason for offering you tea?"

"I don't know. Do you?"

In a way, he could understand her. As a teacher, he had always belittled her, treated her like scum, insulted her and her appearance, and made her think he disliked her for her Muggle heritage, when in the end he had had nothing against her. Hermione Granger's major problem had been that she was Harry Potter's best friend, and he couldn't stand any of the brat's sidekicks. She didn't trust him even though she had nothing to fear from him.

"I'm not trying to get into your knickers, Granger.

"I wasn't suggesting that." She protested, her cheeks red, grasping his hand in order to get to her feet.

"Come. I want to come back here when I'm finished with you." He had no intention of giving up his free day for her sake.

"You make it sound like a threat."

"It is." He said with his best teacher's voice, and she smiled.

Hermione followed him outside the bookshop and into a small alley on the side where different restaurants and coffee shop stand up. He opted for one with wide glass windows, soft light and not too many customers inside. The cafè was nice, coloured in pastels with nice plants covering the walls. He opened the door for her and went to order their tea, leaving her to choose the table.

"Thank you." She whispered to the waiter who had brought them tea and a tray with cakes and pastries first, then more softly to Severus who was eyeing his tea before sweetening it with two spoonfuls of sugar. "You stir your tea exactly like you would stir your cauldron."

"And exactly like I would brew a perfect cauldron, I have just made this tea perfect." he replied smirking before taking a sip of the brew.

"Modest."

"So, why were you crying?" he asked and she seemed startled at the question, like she had not expected it or she ad totally forgotten about the reason she was having it with her old Potions Professor.

"I'm not really sure you would be interested in hearing about Ronald Weasley's and my personal life."

Love affairs then, how boring., he thought to himself before replying.

"I'm not, but if that's why you had been moping around then I'll listen to it.

"I wasn't moping around!" she protested pointing her spoon towards him like she would with her wand.

"Weren't you?" He asked in a mocking tone raising his eyebrow.

"Well, maybe…" She acknowledged lowering her arm and stirring her tea, not looking at him. "I'm not sure I still love him."

"Is that it? Then leave him."

"It's not that easy!"

"Whyever not?"

The answer seemed so easy for him and yet the girl was desperate, but yet again he had always been so good at severing relationships.

"I… He is everything I have, him and his family." She started, looking away; her expression was sad. "My parents are dead, and Arthur and Molly have sort of adopted me… I have lived with them for years, I only moved two years ago when I decided I needed some space and bought my own flat."

"And why do you think you needed your space?"

"I felt kind of suffocating. At first it was fine because we were all mourning, and being all together brought us some peace, but then… it was just too much."

"You could have bought your flat with the Weasley boy, but you decided you wanted to be on your own."

"Exactly."

Severus watched her softly blowing on her tea, warming her hands on the hot mug. Her caramel coloured eyes were sad and something in him stirred. He knew what she was feeling and yet he didn't, but the only solution he could find was for her to leave the boy.

"I have always wondered about why you ended up with Weasley. It's not as if you have much in common, really."

The two of them, along with Harry Potter, had been friends since first year. They had fought Voldemort together and won but beside that, which wasn't a small thing, they didn't have much. Ronald Weasley didn't possess the maturity Hermione had, nor the brain, so it really was a wonder that they still were a couple since they didn't have many interests in common.

"I don't know either." She answered with a soft playful smile. "You know, I have never been very popular at school, and Ron has been my first and only boyfriend. Even when something broke between us, I have never… you know, tried anything else."

"Perhaps you should." He suggested with a shrug watching her widen her eyes and blush deeply.

"I'm not going to sha –" she started but he stopped her with a raised hand.

"Not me, Granger, but someone you feel attracted to."

"Why should I cheat on him?"

"It's not technically cheating since you are already sure you don't love him anymore. You could still ask him some time off, to think about what you really want."

Hermione looked at him with fearful eyes, then gazed away and for some heartbeat she didn't say anything. Then, without meeting his eyes, she started whispering.

"We had sex a couple of days ago and it was horrible. He was over me grunting while I watched outside of the window wishing he would be finished soon. I have never felt so detached and dejected… he didn't even bother to ask me why I hadn't come."

"Do you know what this mean?"

"That I don't love him anymore?"

"Yes, and that he doesn't love you either. I have never been in a committed relationship, but I have always made sure that all the women I have been with had reached their orgasm at the end of our encounter. It's a matter of consideration, and he clearly doesn't respect you if he fell asleep without even be bothered by the fact that you hadn't climaxed."

"I… Thank you." She murmured meeting his eyes. "I didn't think it could be so easy to talk to you. You're a good listener."

"I have been Head of House half my life; listening to my students was part of the job."

"And yet, you didn't look like the approachable sort."

"To you Gryffindors. My Slytherins knew they could come to me any moment if they needed to.

"Well, yes." She conceded with a smile. "I will go now, if you don't mind. I need some time to think about what you have told me."

"By all means." He said before standing with Hermione and escorting her outside the coffee chop.

She had indeed much to think about and he wasn't sure about what kind of decision she would take in the end. What he knew for certain was that Weasley was an asshole and she certainly deserved much more. He hadn't asked her what Potter thought about this, if she had talked to him about her problems at all. Moreover, he wondered if she was already seeing someone else since she had blushed so violently at his mention of going with another man just to see if something in her changed. That boy was an idiot. He certainly would make her cry out his name over and over again if he were to have her splayed naked on his bed. Granger was a beautiful woman and no matter the fact that he had been her Professor, he wouldn't mind shagging her senseless.

They walked quietly beside each other, Severus headed to his bookstore and Hermione to the apparition point, lost in their thought when a sudden voice broke through their musing.

"Hermione!" the big voice exclaimed at their backs, and immediately spun on his heels, his wand pointed on the Weasley boy. It seems he still had good reflexes. "What the fuck are you doing here with him?"

"Ron!" she exclaimed, and he saw a bolt of panic rise in her eyes. "Show some respect to him!"

"What the fuck are you doing here, Hermione?" he repeated, completely ignoring her request, and he sounded angry. "You told me you had extra work to do but I went to the hospital because I wanted to have lunch with you and they told me you had asked the day off! And now I find you here with him! What the fuck is going on?"

Ron was fuming and his face had taken on a red colour which rivalled that of his hair. His hands were balled into tight fists at his sides and was advancing towards Hermione which had started approaching him with her hands up and an apologetic face, even if eyes showed a completely different thing.

"I'm sorry, love." She said in a soothing tone before caressing his arms. "I needed some time for myself and went to the bookshop and met Professor Snape. I hadn't seen him in ages, so we went to have tea together, nothing special."

"Do you think I'm stupid, Hermione?" He said angrily freeing himself from her grip. "I know what you have been doing all this time!" he yelled, and a look of panic crossed Hermione's eyes who started to protest. "You disgust me!"

Severus had assisted to the fight in silence, his wand lowered but ready to strike, resisting the urge to hex the boy's balls for the way he was talking to his boyfriend. It wasn't any of his business and he planned to stay out of it, but when the young Weasley shoved Hermione forcefully to one side making her lose her balance and fall to the ground, he acted quickly moving his wand towards him and throwing him against the near wall.

In two quick strides he was crouching before him, his hand at the collar of his jumper and his dark wand pointing at his neck. Severus' eyes were never ending pools of dark water and, while to the outside they looked a calm sea, inside himself a stormy ocean was shattering against the rocks. How dare him treat her like that?

"I think it's enough Weasley." He said through clenched teeth, calming his breathing. "Apologize to her, now."

However, the boy just laughed at him, a mad gleam in his eyes.

"You are not my Professor anymore, Snape. And besides, what do you think you are doing? We all know you can't use dark spells; you are still on hold."

It was Severus' time to smirk, his crooked teeth bared, and an evil cloud morphed his features.

"Is this what you think, Weasley? Have you ever tried an Inflatus on someone's breathing organs?" he explained, and his smirked deepened at the sudden look of horror in the boy's eyes. "It does a really funny thing, you know. Your organs start to swell until there is no room for anything else and then your heart, exhausted because it had had to pump up more blood, just stops working and you die. Would you like that?"

"NO! NO, PLEASE! NO!" Ron yelled, desperately trying to free himself from Snape's grasp. "Hermione please, help me!"

"Apologize, Weasley."

"Please! I'm sorry!" he said crying moving his head from left to right, his eyes tightly shut. "I'm sorry!"

"I'm not who you must apologize to, you idiot!" he snapped, shaking him more. "Granger! You must apologize to Granger!"

"Hermione! Please! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Severus moved his gaze from Weasley to Hermione, taking in her sorrowful eyes and pale cheeks. She didn't say anything for a while, just looking at her boyfriend without saying a word, but then she asked him to release the dunderhead. However, instead of going to Hermione, the ginger scrambled to his fit and run away before apparating, probably splinching himself in the act.

He shook his head before approaching Hermione who was trembling and had her eyes locked on the ground.

"Are you okay?" he asked tilting his head to the side and appraising her. Only then did he realise she was silently crying. He rested a gentle hand on her shoulder and squeezed it before moving it up the length of her arm and laying it on the side of her neck. Only then she looked up at him, her caramel eyes wide and clouded by tears.

"No." she whispered so softly he nearly didn't hear her and then put her face on his black coat, effectively crying on his chest. He stiffened at the contact but immediately relaxed and brought his arms to envelope her.

She fit perfectly against him and in a way, he felt in peace. It had passed a lifetime since the last time he had hold another human being between his arms. When the memory of Lily's lifeless body assaulted him, he tightened his hold on Hermione and she sighed deeply, closing her firsts on his coat. He laid his chin on her curly head, burying his large nose between her hair and inhaling deeply her scent. It was sweet with a hint of peach and lime and he liked it. She cried some more, clutching at him with dear life, and he never loosened his grip on her. When Hermione finally stopped crying, she lifted her head and looked up at him, searching his eyes.

"I'm sorry." She whispered drying her eyes with the back of her hand. "I didn't want to ruin your coat."

He waved her apology away and escorted her to her flat which wasn't that far from the library. Her thanks were awkward, and she had delivered them without meeting his eyes, but it had been nice to hear them as he wasn't used to being thanked.

When Severus finally went home late in the evening, he mused about the event of that afternoon while eating a slice of lasagna and thought about how much he had changed over the years and even more since he had started his correspondence with Alba. He had definitely gone soft, but he didn't care.