~ Chapter 20 ~

Hermione listened to the two voices in the sitting room with her. She'd eventually fallen asleep under Snape's watchful eyes, but the sound of murmured talk caused her to flee her dreamless sleep.

She thought back on the events of yesterday. She remembered how Lucius had accused Snape of bedding his student, and the notion brought a warm feeling to her stomach. He'd never bed a student, never.

"Tell her, Severus," McGonagall said.

"I will," Snape sighed. "I'm just going to give her a few hours and then I'll explain what's happened."

"I still think you should let someone else deal with her."

"Deal with her?" he whispered back harshly. "She's not a misbehaving school child! She's in shock from seeing her parents heads in a bag, and trust me, I'm perfectly capable of dealing with someone experiencing grief."

"Do you not think you're putting a bigger target on Hermione; Lucius Malfoy is coming after you as well, and the pair of you being together just makes it harder to keep you both safe."

"Well your argument is invalid now that we're back in Hogwarts — didn't you say that not even Lucius Malfoy could penetrate the wards?" Hermione heard the door shut, and she assumed that McGonagall was left in a state of shock on the other side.

She listened as Snape muttered things under his breath and moved around the room. A part of her wanted to comfort him, yet another was quickly coming to realise what had happened yesterday.

Mum.

Dad.

Hermione burst into tears and sobbed into the cushion. A cautious hand rested on her arm and she opened her eyes to look at Snape. "They died not even knowing I exist!" Snape flinched away from her words but kept his hand on her arm.

His face was steeled of emotion and she could tell that he wanted to say something that one would consider harsh. She sat up to look down at him on the floor, and she wiped away her tears with shaking hands.

"What is it?"

He sighed. "Lucius is now Minister of Magic."

"Oh…" a fresh wave of tears tumbled from her eyes, and she leant forward and rested her forehead on his shoulder.

He moved closer to her ear, and she thought for a second that he was going to kiss her, but his deep voice soon perished the thought. "I know that you need to grieve, Hermione, but you need to fight back and we can't let this brew for long. We fought for a world free of Voldemort and now someone wants to take that away from us. I'm going to have to ask you to pause your grief and help me end this. We'll have a team backing us and I'll be right by your side through it all."

She smiled against his shoulder then turned to whisper in his ear. "Penny told me why I can hear her." She wasn't sure why she said that in response to his uplifting words, but her mind wasn't exactly in the right place at the moment.

Snape pulled away in shock. She'd managed to stun him into silence and she wasn't sure if that was a good thing. "She told me that I'm your—" he got to his feet and glared down at her.

"I don't know what you think you know, but it's a lie, all of it."

"So I'm not your destined soul?"

"Of course not!" his yell made her jump, and regret flashed over his face. "I apologise."

"It's fine. I'm used to being rejected," she wrapped the blanket around her and lay down, putting her back to him.

"Miss Granger—"

"You won't be my friend, and you say I'm not your intended soul, therefore, we wouldn't want someone thinking this was any more than a standard student-teacher relationship. Oh, and thank you for returning to calling me Miss Granger, hearing you call me Hermione really made it seem like you care."

All she could hear was him breathing in response. She nuzzled her face into the pillow and thought about her deceased parents. Memories of many happy Christmases caused her heart to sink. Yet, she still didn't feel the bone shattering feeling of grief. Perhaps it's because I already grieved their loss when I couldn't return their memories?

His hand came to rest on her shoulder and she violently shoved it off, and shot to her feet to glare up at him. "Don't. Touch. Me." He stared back at her in shock, clearly not expecting such an outburst from her. "I'm sick of this!" she gestured between them both. "I guess it's my fault for deluding myself into thinking we were friends, and I hate that I started to care for you, because there's only so many times someone can pull at a thread until it breaks. My bloody patience is that thread!"

"Hermione—"

"I appreciate everything you've done for me so far, but I want to be your friend and if that can't happen then I'll seek someone else's counsel. I never meant to bother you so much—" a warmth flooded her nose and she reached up to find blood dripping from her nostrils. What? The room started to spin and Snape called out her name before everything went dark.

…

"Poppy!" Severus charged into the hospital wing with Hermione in his arms. He looked around for the mediwitch, and she poked her head out of her office. She seemed startled to see them both, but she quickly acted and pointed towards a nearby bed. Severus carefully put Hermione down and observed her pale face.

"What happened?"

"Her nose started bleeding then she collapsed. She must've been hit with something whilst we were fighting," Poppy scanned her body with her wand, and he paced around waiting for her to give him a definite answer. She shifted Hermione so she could look at her back, her silent reaction caused him to walk around the bed and look at what she'd seen. There on Hermione's back was the shimmering residue of a dark curse.

Severus had no idea what curse the intruder had hit her with, and that idea alone caused him to panic. What if she dies? He tapped his head trying to think through every dark curse he knew, but so many of them caused similar reactions that it was hard to identify the culprit. His chest tightened as he realised he was helpless and unable to protect her like he promised. What if his last memory of her was the distraught look on her face as she scolded him for pushing her away one too many times?

"Severus…"

What do I do? He scanned her body for any sign of hope, but all he could focus on was the clamp that had latched onto his heart. This is all my fault!

"Severus!" Poppy grabbed his arm and he snapped out of his daze. "She's going to be all right."

He exhaled. "What?"

"It was a weak curse, and the residue on her back is just her body fighting it out of her system," Poppy released his arm and smiled. "Sit and calm down."

He followed her instructions and sat down at Hermione's bedside. He watched closely as Poppy administered some potions and kept a close eye on her rising temperature. She kept giving Severus sidelong looks then smiling to herself for some unknown reason.

She's going to be OK. He sighed in relief and buried his face in his hands. Perhaps it was fate giving him a wake up call, or some sort of divine intervention? He was angry at Penny for telling Hermione the truth, and the worst part of it all was that Hermione seemed to accept it. Severus just didn't understand why she wished to be his friend, let alone anything more than that; he wasn't even sure how he felt about her, but what he did know was that he wanted her in his life.

The flames in the fireplace glowed green and Vic stumbled out with Potter behind him. Two cats were nestled in Vic's arms and Potter held Hermione's endless bag. He hadn't notified them about her collapsing, but when he saw a cut on Potter's hand he assumed they'd stopped to get Poppy to clean it.

"Madam Pomfrey can you — Hermione!" Potter dropped her bag and raced over to her bedside. He reached out a shaking hand and touched her face, then his eyes narrowed at him.

"What accusation are you going to throw at me this time?" Severus tilted his head with a passive face.

"I…" Sniderfield appeared behind Potter and placed his hand on his back. "What happened?"

"She was hit with a curse while fighting," Poppy explained. "She'll recover just fine."

"Thank Merlin," Potter stroked her hair and Severus was tempted to tell him to leave her alone, but he had no right or claim over her.

"Master," Penny jumped onto his lap, and Severus felt reluctant to touch her.

"You told Hermione the truth," he hissed back in his head.

She bowed. "I'm sorry, but she deserves to be happy—"

"I told you not to mention it to her until I was ready."

Penny's sharp claws dug into his thigh. "Forgive me, but you weren't there to see her face every time you rejected her offer of friendship; she deserves to know that you care about her."

Severus sighed in response and forced her sharp claws from his thigh. "I think I've pushed her too far. We were arguing before she collapsed."

"Let her grieve, and then talk to her about what I've told her. She wants to be your friend, and you never know, it might develop into something more."

"I don't see her in that way — do you honestly think I'd engage in inappropriate relations with a student."

"You never know…" Severus put her down on the floor and got to his feet.

The tightness around his heart had eased, but he knew it wouldn't disappear until she opened her eyes.

"Let me clean up your hand, Harry," Poppy took hold of his hand with a smile. "What happened?"

"I fell over when I was gathering Hermione's things."

Severus tutted at his response and received a death glare from Potter. Vic smirked at Potter then focused his attention on Severus. "I'm guessing you've heard the news about Lucius?"

Severus nodded. "He needs to be dealt with, soon."

"There's going to be a gathering here at Hogwarts tomorrow evening. Lucius isn't as powerful as he likes to think, and Hogwarts is untouchable against his magic."

"Doesn't mean he won't try," Potter added. "We need to get Hermione somewhere safe."

"Our last two locations were compromised," Severus growled. "The only place that is safe is here."

"Lucius won't be able to get into Grimmauld Place."

He had to admit that Potter had a point, but he wasn't going to say that to his face. "He'll find a way."

"You don't know that!" Potter snapped and walked away from Poppy. "She needs more protection — you haven't been doing a good job!"

Severus inhaled through his teeth. "I've being doing the best that I can for her."

"Well that's not good enough—"

"Do not tell me what's good for her! You weren't there for her, Potter, and she needed you more than she needed me! You and that ginger fool ignored her letters and cast her aside, leaving her with no other choice but to seek comfort from someone else. I haven't just been protecting her, I've been helping her get over what Malfoy did to her! Or have you forgotten?" Severus was beyond livid and he wished to storm away but refused to leave Hermione's side.

"We were protecting her from what was happening at the Ministry!" Potter yelled back.

"Yes, and you've clearly done a good job at protecting her!" Severus raced around the bed to lunge at the idiotic boy, but Vic put out his hand and pushed Harry behind him.

"There's no need to get physical," he said. "Harry, let's go and talk to the Headmistress about the plans for tomorrow," Vic led a fuming Potter from the room, and Poppy ushered Severus to sit back down.

"Would you like something to drink?" She asked, and Severus gratefully took the water she offered.

Severus stayed by Hermione's bedside until the sun started to set hours later and there was movement behind her lids. He got to his feet and hovered over her holding his breath. He watched closely as she slipped away from sleep and finally opened her eyes to observe her surroundings.

She reached up to rub her eyes then slowly sat up. He waited for her to notice him, and when she did, she smiled sweetly. "What happened?"

"You collapsed due to a curse one of the intruders hit you with," he kept his hands behind his back.

"Oh…" she yawned. "My parents are dead."

"I'm aware."

She chuckled. "Yes, you were there, silly me."

Severus wasn't sure what to say to her. The softness on her face didn't match what he knew she was feeling inside, but what he did know was that people grieve differently to others. He looked at her in sympathy and tried to think of a way to ease her pain.

"Don't look at me like that," she whispered. "I'll be fine after a few days; I already grieved the loss of my parents a long time ago, I just need to come to terms with seeing...well...their heads in a bag."

Penny jumped onto the bed and happily climbed into Hermione's lap. He watched as a thought triggered her to pause and look his way. She's going to bring up the destined soul thing again.

She held out a trembling hand for him to take. "Friends?"

He couldn't reject her again.

Severus grabbed the hand she offered and shook it. "Friends."

AN:/ Hello! I know a lot of you were getting annoyed with Severus' constant rejection of Hermione's friendship, but as I'm doing my best to keep everyone within their characters, I believe - even while struggling with his own feelings towards her - becoming friends with someone that he's always seen as a student would be difficult for him to get his head around! But never fear, they'll both start to become a lot closer in the next few chapters!

Thank you to everyone who favourited, followed and reviewed, you all made me smile!