a/n: O.K. *sigh* big, uh oh on my part.... In chapter one...i JUST NOW realized that i used diagon alley instead of Hogsmeade. So, i changes it all to Hogsmeade. So sorry for the miss hap.
Thank you everyone for your support. I can only hope that i get more supporters. You all have been so wonderful!
Hold on to your panties, here's chapter 6!
Hermione's body seemed to overtake her suddenly with a mind of it's own and before she knew it she was bounding over the counter, yanked the door open; not bothering to look and see if the shattering sound was from her opening the door to harshly. Once outside the door Hermione glanced left then right then left again trying to find the billowing blackness amongst the array of people walking in the town. She spotted him making his way to the path that lead back to the school, Hermione held her breath as she ran for it. Ran to him. She had to know. Hermione dodged and weaved through the crowd, 'Why does he have to walk so damn fast?!' she though stopping before Hogsmeade ended and turned into the raw path that lead to Hogwarts. He was still a good ten feet away. She couldn't continue. She shouted to him.
"SEVERUS!" she huffed out as loudly as possible. She really needed more exercise. This was pathetic. Severus stopped abruptly. He didn't turn around. Hermione rolled her eyes and began to trot towards him. She laid a hand on his right shoulder.
"Severus." she huffed again. He finally turned and Hermione slumped over and leaned on her knee's to regain her breath. she cocked her head to looked up at him from her hunched position.
"Severus.... I'm sorry for .......the way I've been .........treating you...... Honestly, i should have been more ...............courteous to you."Hermione stood up and continued to huff a bit more before her breathing returned to a somewhat decent rate.
Severus looked at her like she turned into something hideous for a moment and then cleared his face of any emotion and nodded curtly. "It's quite alright Ms. Grange-"
"No, Please call me Hermione" Hermione said holding up a hand
Severus glared at her "....Hermione....yes...your quite excused i suppose. Dare I say your apology and my forgiveness will mean much of anything."
Hermione cocked an eye brow "why is that ?"
Severus cleared his throat. "Because, you will probably never see me again."
Hermione gawked at him " why is that?"
Severus rolled his eye " You outrageous girl, because, i only come into town every three months and i hardly doubt your silly little store will make it through the end of spring" he said glancing at his watch "Approximately two weeks and five da-"
'WhAp' Hermione hissed at the stinging on her hand that emanated from the contact that sent Severus' head jerking to his right.
Quickly disregarding the pain Hermione glared at the man "How dare you!" she hissed. "How dare you presume things like that when i swallow my pride and come running stupidly after you to apologize, APOLOGIZING TO YOU, OF ALL PEOPLE IN THE BLOODY WORLD!" Hermione flailed out her arms a bit, huffed a few more times"You arrogant bastard." Hermione turned around and started to walk away.
Why had she ran after him? Hermione felt incredibly stupid and defeated as she made her way back to her shop. Hermione was still fuming slightly as she walked and thought about how much harder she could have hit the man had she been more prepared for the comment he assaulted her with. Then, Before she made it to the entrance of the town she felt a soft yet firm hand on her left arm and suddenly she was whirled about. He never let go of her but never hurt her with his grip. Severus stared into her eyes.
" I'm sorry..." he looked and sounded rather confused saying these words as if they were a foreign language to him. "Hermione." he finished.
Hermione thought she saw a pig flapping in the sky behind Severus' head fluttering in and out of the clouds doing loop-the-loops just for giggles. She couldn't say anything. She didn't know exactly what to say to him. Hermione looked down and blushed.
"I'm sorry for slap-" Hermione gasped as she looked at the book he purchased earlier, she hadn't even realized how she came into possession of such a book but remembered him wagging the blue leather bound book at her before slapping it on the counter earlier.
"How-what?" Hermione looked wondrously up at the man in front of her.
Severus smirked slightly " Well it seems the only thing worth buying in that store of yours is now in my possession...and at an extremely steep price i might add. What i meant to sayearlier was that if you price gouge everything in your store the way you did this book....i don't see you lasting at all."
Hermione wanted to slap herself, this time to make sure she wasn't dreaming. She could hardly believe Severus Snape was explaining himself to her. Hermione laughed.
"No, I don't gouge my prices. For you though, I thought I'd make an exception." she stated honestly. Hermione wanted to talk more about the book and try to find out if he really had been there in her dream, but she really had to get back to her shop.
"Would you like to come back to my shop? I could fix you some tea..." Hermione offered as politely as possible. She hoped he'd accept, she had so many questions that she hoped he would have some sort of answer's to. Severus seemed to pondered her invitation for a moment before nodding once in agreement. Hermione gently maneuvered her arm out of Severus' grip as she turned back around and made her way back to her shop locking her eyes on the cobble stone pathway, she counted the stones in one line on the way back. there were fifty eight.
Once there Hermione realized she did in fact break the glass window that was located to the left of the door. Thankfully, the door knob was still intact. Hermione sighed as she pulled out her wand, mumbled a few words as she swished it about and fixed the window in a matter of seconds. She held to door open for her guest watching him look at her through his peripheral vision as he walked through. She gently closed the door behind him. Hermione sighed in relief, She was glad to see that the woman searching for a cold remedy was still looking through medications. That meant she hadn't been gone long. Hermione looked at Severus to see him standing awkwardly in the middle of one of her isles. Hermione held up a finger to him.
"Hold on, one tick." she said passing him. Hermione made her way to her back room and rummaged through a box she had sitting in the corner. She didn't think she'd be using the sign, so she kept it in a miscellaneous box located in the dark recesses of her work room. Once she found the sign she made her way back to the front of the building. Hermione smiled at the woman who was now at the front desk ready to pay for her goods .'good timing' Hermione thought.
Before arriving at the cashier Hermione recognized the two vials the woman had placed on the counter.
"One galleon, please" Hermione said sweetly. The woman visibly relaxed and sighed as she rummaged through her hand bag retrieving a coin and handed it to Hermione. She had obviously thought it was going to cost more. "bless you, miss" the woman whispered as she took the vials and placed them in her bag. Hermione's heart filled with delight at the thought of helping this woman. This. This was the reason she opened this shop. Hermione gave her best wishes to the woman and whomever was inflicted expressing her hope that they recovered soon. The woman thanked her, Then, the woman looked nervously at the fireplace located conveniently next to the desk. Hermione looked at what she was glancing at.
"Oh my, please, would you care to use my floo?"Hermione asked in all earnestness. The woman shyly nodded "If it wouldn't be to much trouble, i really need to get this home-"
Hermione held up her hands "Oh goodness, no, that's what it's there for!"
Hermione gestured towards the fireplace giving the woman the O.K. to proceed. Quickly, The woman grabbed a handful of powder that was located in a unnecessarily large plant pot next to the fireplace and mumbled a few words as she threw the powder down and disappeared through the green flame.
Hermione turned her head from the fireplace and looked for Severus. He was in the same place she had left him. She smiled slightly for reasons unbeknown to her. Hermione then picked up her sigh and hung it from a nail on the door frame above the door. "Open" it read on the side facing her. "Closed" on the other. Hermione turned to see him staring at her.
"Ready?"she asked. He nodded and held out his arm, signaling her to lead the way.
Hermione suddenly felt nervous leading him into her back work room. Would he make snide remarks about her work space or criticize the potions she was working on or comment on how untidy everything was? She made her way through the room and up the stairs quickly. Severus didn't say anything as he followed her, but she knew he was keeping mental tabs on how her work was being conducted. She was sure if he didn't say anything now, then, he would later. She opened the door at the top of the stairs and walked through her living room towards her kitchen area.
Hermione nodded towards the breakfast nook she had in the corner that had large windows that exposed an extraordinary view of Hogwarts and the land between it and Hogsmeade.
"Please, have a seat" She asked politely.
Severus sat at the small square table and gazed out the window quietly as Hermione busied herself with putting tea water on the stove. Hermione rummaged though her shelfs found a plate and some biscuits. She haphazardly emptied the box of biscuits onto the plate and went to the table to join Severus shoving the biscuits in his direction. He stared at them admonishingly. Hermione chuckled nervously.
"Sorry, I wasn't exactly expecting.....company." She admitted.
Severus nodded. and glanced back out the window. Hermione sighed. She didn't know where to start or if should start anywhere for that matter. She didn't want to be embarrassed. Hermione watched as Severus looked down at his shoes he stared for a good while, then, he spoke.
"I feel absurd talking to you about this, but, i feel i must or else I will never know." Hermione had to lean into him slightly because he was speaking so softly. This was definitely a side to Severus he probably never shared with anyone. Hermione was more terrified of this side than the snide, rude, domineering man she had known since she was eleven years old. It was like finding a soft underbelly to a rock...it just didn't fit. He shocked her further by continuing.
"After all, everyone wants to obtain everything they desire from life." He then looked at her with cautious eyes.
Hermione's heart started to wildly thump in her chest and her eyes grew wide. She nodded to him in agreement. He was talking about the dream. He was there. They had shared the same dream....but how?
Hermione's attention suddenly went to the howling tea kettle. Quickly, she drew out her wand and called everything to the table; Tea kettle, two mugs, tea, sugar and cream. She sighed shakily as she thought about how to respond. She was so nervous and somehow she knew he was as well. Hermione knew she had to tread carefully.
"How did this happen?" was all she could muster.
He shook his head and looked pointedly at the book that he set on the table.
"I was wondering the same thing." he said as he nodded towards to book."I remember passing this by yesterday before you so graciously made me leave last night." he sneered in memory of the ambush. " I thought it odd, it being here, in a medical shop of all places. But, thought nothing more of it. I disregarded it up until I woke this morning. I have never in my life heard of or experienced what happened last night."
Hermione suddenly started to feel queasy.
He continued after seeing the look of unease etched clearly on her face. "Look M- Hermione" he corrected himself. "If, by any chance you don't want to continue to pursue this, i understand. I thought at first this morning it was just i who had the dream. I remembered the book and thought maybe it would lead to some insight as to why i was having a dream about you of all people. I can't recall having dreams like this before. And actually, I usually have dreamless sleeps. No offense or anything. But then, when you looked at me this morning the way you did... i had to throw something out there to see ....if maybe."
Hermione nodded. "I could hardly believe what you were saying this morning. at first i thought maybe i had imagined it. Then, i couldn't stop myself from running after you. I had to know" Hermione grew a little more quiet and shyly added " and there is still so much i would like to know."
Severus turned completely towards Hermione and focused intently on her. "Like what?"
Hermione blushed instantaneously, fingering the grooves in the table. "I'm just wondering if what you said was true in the dream"
Severus smirked a bit "What part were you wondering about?"
Hermione knew he was getting a laugh at this, but, she had to know. "Everything, just being there with me. I want to know if you really wanted to be there with me."
Severus shook his head. It was his turn to chuckle. "You outrageous woman. If I didn't want to be there or here, honestly, do you think I would be sitting here playing tea party with you?"
a/n: To answer your question, yes , they did share the same dream. I'm having some difficulties developing that part of the plot, so please bare with me and you will be rewarded, eventually. Remember, The more reviews i get, The more insured the next chapter will be! Thus, you will be closer to finishing the story. I have no idea how much longer it will be...could be 3 more chapters or a whopping 33 more chapters...i don't know. I'm playing this one by ear. But, once again...i would like to just express my gratitude on all the reviews everyone has been sending me. Thank you!
p.s. I know that I am spitting out chapters left and right this week, but, that is only because of school break. But, My current status quo is trying to have a chapter out a week...week and a half max! thank you again!