Disclaimer: I only own AU and Ocs, the rest are from JKR's dollhouse.
Consider, Enigma?
Staring up at her burgundy canopy Hermione Granger uttered the word, "Consider?" for the umpteenth time. Her fingers held the two ends of the open book laying on her chest, tapping lazily over the hardbound cover, keeping time in harmony with her swaying thoughts. Swaying, oh yes, just like the weather in this part of the world.
Ever since that clandestine evening at Shrieking Shack, where she had unburdened a bit of her secret to the most fearful man of the world, the weather decided to be indecisive. If she woke up to a sunlit morning, by the time she would make her way to the Great Hall for breakfast, it would stay pouring mercilessly. She felt the raindrops rather enjoyed themselves each time they hit the ground, or the glass windows or the many treetops in the whole of the Forbidden Forest. It was honestly hilarious to imagine them playing the game of hide-and-seek with the giant squid at the Great Lake. Like flies troubling animals mercilessly, she imagined the frisky raindrops troubling the giant lake dweller each time it resurfaced, tickling it with million ghostly touches. Well! Even they were playing the wordless game of hide-and-seek. Snape and herself.
She would watch him from the shadows, hidden behind shelves of old books, or metal statues, or even duck behind clueless professors. It was funny this way. Most thought probably Snape had bitten off her head, yelled his heart out for something trivial. She turned to one side, giggling at the memory of the diminutive charms professor cornering the tall potion master and giving him a rather earful scolding for tormenting her. She had to hide behind a tapestry to watch the sheer shock and creeping up blush over the poor man's long and pale face.
Poppy Pomphrey while playing an interesting game of wizarding chess with Headmistress at the latter's office, while Hermione finished her paper that Minerva had been helping her with all afternoon, had mentioned, rubbing her thumb over her lips, contemplating her next move, "I say, Minerva, it served him right, tormented those poor homesick kids for nothing, Flitwick showed him how rancid his own medicine tasted, Our Hermione here is smart and to continue berating her for no fault of hers. Serves him just right, though watching Flitwick craning his neck up and frothing one statement after another, utterly hilarious," she had innocently looked up at the apprentice and added," but you missed the real thing."
Ignoring her shocked expression at being caught, the mediwitch continued, her eyes back on the board," our Ravenclaw charms professor spell the stone floor under Snape's feet into a thin ice sheet without the man noticing it. All he could take was one step, and baam, he mercilessly skidded across the entire corridor." Minerva had laughed till she was red in the face. If both the older women noticed how difficult it was for the younger one to react, they did not comment on it.
She had hunted for him all through the castle. She knew Snape did not handle misplaced accusations well. He would be smarting in some dark corners. She checked his office, potions lab, and classroom. She checked the library, the trophy room, the Room of Requirement, the astronomy tower, and even discreetly looked for him while paying a courtesy visit to all other professors staying back in school, during this summer break. Lupin had shrugged," Maybe he went back to his Snipper's End home, though never thought Flitwick had it in him. Prank our resident bat of the dungeon." Hermione had rushed out of his office, furious and angry with all of them. How dare they have fun at the cost of him!
Him? How was she going to define him? Picking up her skirt, she had sprinted out of the empty school till her feet had touched the wet grass of the grounds. Panting but still unsuccessful at controlling her wayward thoughts, she ran towards the empty stands of the Quidditch field. Ticking off in her mind, she muttered under her breath," Nasty, scornful, snappy, biting, belittling, genius, marvelous, bloody brilliant, perfectionist, driven, maddening, the man of his words." A hand had shot out through the darkness below the wooden stand and she found herself face to face of the very man she had been looking for. He trapped her with his firm body, holding her two hands behind her back, firmly pressing her into his slender body. Her eyes went wide as he lowered his head, till his long hair tickled her cheek and his lips, his warm breath tickled her parted lips. Peering deep into her doe eyes, he squinted his obsidian ones. Awestruck and clueless, she managed to utter," Huh!"
She felt his chuckle rise from the pit of his stomach, felt the muscles flex, felt his chest expand with it, saw his Adam's apple bob, and his lips part to let through imperfectly perfect teeth bare themselves in mockery. "I wish I knew before that a little well-timed jostle mutes this blabbering mouth. But, right now, I am more concerned about the Identity of this 'Nasty, scornful, snappy, biting, belittling, genius, marvelous, bloody brilliant, perfectionist, driven, maddening, the man of his words'? Is he a figment of your wild imagination or is he a real human being? A muggle? A crush? Or…" She tried hard not to give in to this maddening seductive ploy, tried to school her thoughts, but his eyes, his nose, his lips, and the warmth of his firm body were making those silly butterflies dance in her stomach and climb up to her racing heart. She managed to close her eyes and mutter," Where…?"
"When I talk to you like this, face to face, always, without fail, LOOk at ME." came the rumbling command from inches away.
Her eyes flew open in dread and she found his smirking back at her.
He had rubbed his sharp nose at her lips to put a stopper to her running about thoughts. Leveling his eyes with those of hers he replied finally, "I thought you were born with a photogenic memory, tsk tsk, such a silly slip from you was not expected. Now, remember, did I not tell you some weeks ago, 'Take your time, consider this: Me standing behind you for the rest of your life.' Pausing a bit, he huskily mumbled," Breath, Hermione, Breath with me." She had gasped.
Satisfied, he continued," Just like the man of your giddy imagination, I am a man of my words," rubbing his nose against her small red button-shaped one, he whispered over her blushing cheek," so you see, after nursing my aching back, I waited for you near McGonagall's office, disillusioned so that I could punish you for giggling from behind the tapestry and never coming forth to rescue me from Flitwick's misplaced wrath. I was nearly done with planning your punishment, when I saw you stomping away, muttering my name. Ever since I had been shadowing you through the entire castle. Good thing, you visited so many places, ate too many cups of tea, and swallowed a lot of shortbreads, I suppose. Over eaten enough to give dinner the skip, aren't we?"
In a flash, he had released his hold on her and was gone. Gasping and grappling with her confused mind, she had stumbled out. He was heading back to the castle, his long legs making it easier for him to increase the distance between them by ten folds. She looked up at the outcast sky, where the moon was having a hard time while trying to get a look at the earth below from among the bundles of grey woolly clouds ready to shatter into million pieces of diamond drops. Holding her head did not help her calm down, holding her chest, only made her heave harder still, it was finally after she hugged herself tight could she calm down gradually. Into the damp night air, she whispered, "Consider? How on earth can you start to consider and come to a conclusion? When you can't even begin to define the enigma called Severus Snape? Consider, Enigma?"