Who Do You Think You Are?!
disclaimer: no, neither ladykyo nor the separatesisters own Harry Potter, or the characters therein. We'd like to, but we don't. Feel free to give them to us if you like, though.
Chapter 5: Repercussions
"D'you honestly think you could slap me again and not pay the price?" Snape hissed as he held Hermione's wrist in a vice grip she didn't know he possessed. A moment passed and Hermione tried to wrench her hand away from him.
"There is no price to pay to a traitor like you!" Hermione yelled, sticking her face in his.
Snape's nostrils flared and he swooped his face over hers, crashing his mouth over hers in a crushing kiss. Hermione gasped in surprise and he took the opportunity to slip his tongue into her mouth. His tongue found hers and tasted, wrestling gently, guiding both back into his mouth, where Snape nipped Hermione's tongue gently. After what seemed to be an eternity, Snape finally pulled his face back from Hermione's, leaving both former professor and former student breathless.
It was Hermione who found words first. "How could you do that?" she gasped, backing away from the older man so she could find her breath.
Snape, who had left her so he could lean on the doorframe gave her a vile little smirk. "Because I'm a bloody bastard, isn't that what you would chalk it up to, Granger? After all those things I did while you were my students, wasn't that expected?"
Hermione jerked herself harshly to clear her head. "No. Everything you have ever done, you've done for a reason: on the quidditch pitch you attacked Quirrell – to save Harry; you taught us about werewolves – in hopes I would figure it out to tell Harry; you created anti-petrification draughts – which I was a lucky recipient of; you kept gillyweed and various polyjuice potion ingredients – all of which we needed to keep up the fight against Voldemort; Umbridge could have killed Harry – but with you around, a deputy of Dumbledore himself – she couldn't; and that night – you could have killed Harry. But you didn't! So explain this."
"And yet you still refuse to believe me instead of what Potter thought he saw!" Snape yelled over Hermione's pleas. "Tell me, Hermione 'Brightest Witch of the Age' Granger, what exactly was my 'good reason' to kill the man who took me in, gave me a job and reason to live, and kept me alive when others would have me killed?!"
Hermione stopped, staring at her former teacher. His voice had gone ragged, and as he sagged in the doorway, Hermione saw not only how tired he was, but glimpses of the boy he had been, the man had would have been had he not been tortured by others and been prey for Voldemort himself. His hair hadn't started to go gray yet, and the time he'd spent as a fugitive hiding at Snape Manor had afforded him time to sit and put some weight on, weight he definitely had needed back at Hogwart's. Snape's hair was clean, an improvement from the greasy mess he'd kept at Hogwart's, and as she watched him close his eyes and begin berating himself silently, Hermione saw that he was really quite handsome, in a dangerous way compared to Ron's boyish and more rugged charms. She wondered why he'd kept himself so poorly all those years.
"I don't know, Professor," Hermione said softly.
"Ha," Snape barked in an odd self-deprecating laugh, "Don't call me that anymore. I'll never teach again, and even if I did, you've far surpassed my tutelage."
"I'm tired. And I need to think. May I rest here?" Hermione changed the subject so abruptly Snape's head whipped up. Hermione bit her lip and waited.
"Fine. Try not to disturb anything too much. This room meant much to me when I was your age," Snape said in an almost nostalgic tone. He turned and left the room and many questions behind.
Hermione shut the door softly as she wondered what to do about the professor and her escape. She walked back to the large, soft bed and peeled the covers back, climbing in wearing the dress robes as she had nothing else to change into. She pulled the covers up to her neck and freed an arm to flick her wand to douse the lights.
Severus Snape was busy getting very drunk in his personal sitting room much later that night when Draco Malfoy apparated into the room right before his very eyes.
"Now what? We weren't expecting her to appear here. If it had been Black or Tonks or even Lupin, things would be so much easier. But anything she finds out, Potter and the Weasleys find out. Anything they find out, the rest of the Order finds out. If just one person in the chain misinterprets between her and the full-blown Order, you and I are dead, and the war is lost," Draco, said, pacing and talking with his hands as Snape watched him, dumb. AN: 'dumb' silently. He is dead-drunk, you know.
Snape slammed his glass tumbler down on the nearest table, a crack running up its side. "I know, Draco, but we have to work with what we've been given. You have contacts to make and things to do while I hold the fort down, as it were, and keep things running in case he stops here while he makes his own contacts. Do you understand me?"
Draco bowed and nodded. "Yes, I understand. Are you going to keep her here?"
"I have to. She can't apparate yet, or if she can, she's such a stickler for rules that she knows how to and won't because she has no license. You have no such scruples. Go, Draco, and check on Potter and Weasley for me."
Draco said no more before he dis-apparated with a muted POP! in deference to the time of night.
Snape looked at his cracked tumbler, firewhiskey oozing through it. He grabbed the glass and flung it into the fire that had been dieing down on the hearth. The flames exploded into life briefly, before shrinking again. He rose and walked over to the liquor cupboard. He opened the double doors and peered inside, snorting at the selection. Firewhiskey, firewhiskey, and more firewhiskey. Draco kept the lighter stuff in the fridge or in his own cabinet.
Slamming the doors shut, Snape left his sitting room for the kitchen, safe in the knowledge that Hermione was asleep and not waiting to berate him anymore. He stalked quietly down to the kitchen, leaving his wand and most of his outer-robes in his rooms. Clad only in his soft black pants, Severus shivered slightly as he adjusted to the temperature of the manor.
Snape arrived in the kitchen shortly thereafter, well-adjusted to the temperature and beginning to sober up from his reverie. He opened a cupboard, cursing his dearth of house-elves that he had to serve himself at night.
"Bloody creatures," Severus muttered, opening a box of salt crackers. "SO few and so old they sleep at seven and never rise till nine or ten the next damn morning."
He stood by a window, staring out into the darkness and munching for a few minutes before he heard a commotion coming from the general direction of where Hermione had bedded down for the night. Throwing the box down on the counter, Snape ran first to his rooms to grab his wand then back towards the wing where Hermione was supposed to be sleeping. The sounds grew louder and more frantic, and Snape began to really run.
It took Snape less than two minutes to get to Hermione's room. The door had been locked, and Snape cursed as he flicked his wand at it to unlock the door. Unlocked, the door was still stuck. Taking a deep breath, Severus leaned back and aimed his shoulder carefully before he rammed his shoulder into the door, successfully crashing it open into the pitch-black room.
"Expelliarmus!" Snape roared, aiming his wand at the form standing over Hermione's contorted, screaming body.
"Umph!" it was Mac's voice that came from the body that hit the wall. "Heh, did you think you could keep 'er for yerself, Severus Snape? A half-blood bint surely can't be worth so much to you. I'm just giving her some ideas before I wake her for my fun. . . Of course, I could be persuaded to share."
"How dare you, Mac? We grew up in the same village. I helped you get out of trouble, and this is how you repay me and the village raping young women? I should have killed you back in the forest," Severus hissed, coming closer to the man he had known for so long.
Hermione was beginning to stir, and she was focusing on the scene before her not giving herself away. She knew Mac had no wand Severus had taken care of that but she had no idea of whether or not he could perform wandless magic.
"Come and get me, you coward. Or are you going to let yet another man steak yet another woman from you?" Mac teased, gingerly rising to his feet.
Severus charged at the other man, his hands going around Mac's neck. He squeezed and squeezed while Mac turned blue from the force of it. Snape relented and let the man up, pushing him out of the room.
"Get out, Mac, and never come back. I will kill you if you harm a hair on this one's head," Snape said, slamming the door shut. Footsteps could be heard heading down the hall, and Snape turned to face the bed. "You can sit up now. He's gone, but I need to take a look at you to see if he did any real damage. That healing draught had worked well."
"You slipped me a healing draught?" Hermione quirked and eyebrow at the tall man as he walked towards her. She could see some faint scars in the moonlight streaming through the clouds.
"You know I did, Hermione. Sit up," Severus said, all business as he sat on the edge of the bed and reached for her arm.
Severus probed Hermione's healing wounds and the bruises given her by Mac while she studied him and the room.
Suddenly, something felt strange to Hermione. The door was shut tight, the windows as well, and she wondered how Mac had gotten in the room in the first place. She felt something brush up against her arm and she looked sharply at Snape.
"Was that you?"
"No. Calm down, and I'll leave you here shortly so you can get back to sleep."
Hermione huffed at that and continued to survey the room. She was scanning the room and was scanning back when a glint of metal caught her eye. Severus was busy examining a healing scrape on her shoulder as she carefully palmed her wand. At the last second, she threw her wand hand up and towards the shadyt figure.
"Expelliamus totalus!" Hermione screamed.
An invisibility cloak flew off Mac's surprised form as he was thrown back and through the window. The glass shattered at the impact and Mac's mouth formed a perfect 'o' of surprise as he fell to the ground outside.
Snape grabbed Hermione and pulled her close to his chest, pressing her face against him to shield her from the glass raining over them. AN: I know it wouldn't be much glass, but trust me on this. Snape turned his back to the window, and as Hermione managed to wriggle out of his grip, she saw the glass had left scratches and deep grooves of blood in his back. She gasped, and Snape spoke quietly to her.
"He won't have survived that, Hermione. This room is rather high up, and Mac has none of the skills you or your friends posses that make you so indestructible. He won't hurt you or anyone else again, so calm yourself," Snape said softly, releasing her fully but placing one of his larger hands on her smaller ones.
"I know, and I knew that when I said the spell. Its your back I'm worried about. But I'm not the brightest witch of the age for nothing, sir," Hermione said, pulling a small vial out of her pocket. "I filched this from your supply earlier. Turn around so I can put some on your back before anything gets infected."
Severus did as commanded and turned around. Hermione pulled the stopper out and tore a piece off her robes, dabbing the rag first in the vial then on his back. Severus hissed at the contact, but she continued her ministrations until the wounds had closed and only faintly pink scar tissue remained. She tapped his shoulder to let him know she was finished.
Severus turned to her and looked into her eyes. They were a deep chocolate brown that seemed to glow from within. "I think we should find you another room to sleep in. This one will grow quite cold without a window."
Hermione looked almost disappointed, but she nodded her head anyway. Severus stood and offered her his hand. Hermione accepted it and got off the bed. Severus led her from the room and down to the kitchen where she'd first slapped him. Severus stopped to put the box of salt crackers back before they moved on.
They wandered the manor for a while before arriving back at Snape's rooms. He let her head in first, and as he entered, Snape shut and locked the door with a charm.
"This is the most secure set of rooms in the manor. Through there you'll find a bedroom and bathroom. If anything happens, I'll be in the sitting room here, with the fire lit. There is a hearth in the bedroom as well, which I suggest you light for warmth. You can lock the door if you like," Severus said as he built the fire up again.
Hermione left the room soundlessly, going into the master bedroom. It was completely different from the room she'd been in for the first part of the night. There was a large desk in one corner, surrounded by great lamps; a closet and two wardrobes stood side by side in another corner, and monstrous bed took up most of the rest of the space. Everything was done in shades of green and gray, anything else would be in black, Hermione knew. She looked around and found the hearth in the darkness. She lit it carefully before she padded over to the desk.
The desk was littered with old papers and essays students had written over the years. Hermione had rarely if ever received her essays back, just the grade, and she sorted through the parchments looking for her signature. Finally, Hermione found something that she recognized.
It was an essay she'd written back in her second year, and it was sticking out of a small book. She looked at the date: she had passed it in the very morning of the day the basilisk had turned its gaze on her and turned her to stone. Severus's handwriting was in a few places, but as she read the comments, Hermione couldn't understand the grades she'd received in his classes. All his comments merely offered more information on the subject matter, not criticisms; the comments broke off abruptly approximately half-way through the document.
Hermione examined the notes in the book where her essay had kept place. They were Snape's lesson notes and class remarks. Towards the bottom of the page, the ink color was slightly different, so Hermione decided to read that part.
I have spent the day working on an anti-petrification draught for Hermione, as whoever has been attacking the students has turned his sights on her. I must help as only a fellow half- or muggle-born can; I refuse to let her die.
Hermione felt a lump rise in her throat, and she was about to read more when she heard a noise outside the window. She raced to the window and saw bats flying into the night.
"Oh, fuck it," she said to herself, turning and heading back towards the sitting room where Snape staying.
Severus was sitting on the floor in front of the hearth, cursing again because the very firewhiskey he had been searching for earlier was exactly what he had forgotten to bring back to his rooms. He stared at the fire, letting it entrance him until a small hand rested on his shoulder.
Severus looked up, and Hermione was glowing with the firelight on her skin and the scarlet robes he had procured for her.
"May I sit?" she asked quietly. Without an answer, she sat next to him, shivering slightly and moving closer to him without noticing. She looked at him while he looked at her before he turned his attention back to the fire. "I'm glad you find fire so interesting."
"I don't, necessarily, but I'd rather stare into the flame than make conversation. I was very drunk earlier, but now it is wearing off. You should be in bed," Severus said, staring straight ahead.
"But it's your bed. Where will you sleep? On the couch, I assume?" Hermione said, pulling her body away from his.
"I probably won't sleep at all. Why did you come out here?"
"I wanted to thank you for saving me."
"I should have killed Mac back in the forest. I never thought he'd actually try again," Severus said, turning from the fire to Hermione.
"I meant in the forest. And when Mac showed up in the room," Hermione said, looking into Severus's eyes. Those eyes had always seemed black to her, but upon inspection in the firelight, Hermione realized that his eyes were not black but a green even darker than Harry's.
"I should be thanking you. The thing in his hand was a cursed athame a " Snape began but Hermione cut him off.
" cursed magical dagger that, had it connected, would have wounded you in such a way that only a dangerous and long-brewing potion would have saved you, if it were started within half an hour of the wounding. Fifth year potions, preparations for the OWLs. I came to your dungeons for extra help, remember, and you said you had no time to help the 'un-helpable'? I think I showed youquite well," Hermione said matter-of-factly.
"Un-helpable in that you needed no help. Why spend time over-preparing a student so talented when there were others who would never pass without my help? If you had stayed after that session which if you recall, I invited you to do, if not attend the next, and you turned me down I was going to ask you to be my aid. I never meant to upset you," Severus said, reaching for Hermione's wrist. She let him take her wrist, but she moved to stand up. "Hermione, you may stay and pass the time here, if you so wish."
Hermione shook her head 'no' and held her hand out to him. "We need the sleep, and the forest outside the bedroom window is too unfamiliar."
"I'll walk you in there and build the hearth up for you, check the windows and such. Then you'll be fine," Severus said, standing up and heading for the bedroom.
The fire was weak, so he added wood and muttered and incantation over it. He checked and charmed the window for her and pulled the coverlet of the bed back. Hermione smiled wanly and climbed into bed.
"My gods, this is why I never had children," Snape muttered, leaning over Hermione and pulling the covers over her carefully.
"I feel nothing like your daughter, if that makes you feel better," Hermione said in a low voice.
Snape stiffened, trying to hide his reaction from her. He straightened and turned to leave her for the night, to save her from himself. Hermione caught his hand and placed it at the base of her neck.
"And I don't want to be alone tonight."
w00t! Another chapter for all the loyal fans. You give me ten, ten eensy-weensy lil' reviews and you'll get their night all the faster. Will he leave her, or will he give in to her invitation, knowing that it will complicate everything in the morning and that nothing will ever be the same.
So, 10 reviews and you get the 6th chapter (which is already written and waiting to be ransomed!)
Brenna, of the separate-sisters