Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, it belongs to JK Rowling, etc, etc. Anyone who thinks I do own Harry Potter is an idiot.
A/N: Okay, so I really am teasing you! Sorryyy! LOL. This chapter was not supposed to be this, but it just kind of happened, and I like the symmetry of these two chapters and how they both lead up to their reunion, which I promise will be the next chapter! And the whole chapter will be Harry/Hermione cuteness! As always, hope you guys liked it.
Steps Toward Something
Chapter Six
The morning of September the first, Harry woke to Snape nudging his shoulder roughly. He blinked up at his mentor, momentarily disorientated.
'Get up,' Snape said briskly, before wandering off to his own room, not another word spoken, with no explanation given.
Harry sat up and looked around, getting his bearings. He was on the cot in Snape's quarters, where he had been sleeping since returning to Hogwarts. Tonight he would be back in the Slytherin dormitory. Wonderful, he thought dourly.
Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Harry stood and began to get dressed. Snape returned as he was pulling on his t-shirt. It was one of the few things he had bought over the holidays, when Snape had taken him shopping for clothes that actually fit, rather than the hand me downs he had worn all last year (most of them too baggy to actually fit his skinny frame). Ironically enough, while the clothes he bought actually did fit him better, they still hung on his almost skeletal body. It wasn't that he didn't get enough to eat either. He was just naturally skinny for some reason.
'You want breakfast before we get started?'
That being said, Harry was not really a breakfast person. 'Nope.'
'Good. Let's get started.' Snape brandished his wand.
Harry stretched his arms above his head, and then pulled out his wand, tired, but ready to defend himself. You always had to be ready, no matter what. The enemy wouldn't care if he were tired, after all.
Harry spent the majority of the day training with Snape, which helped pass the time. It was hard to concentrate, however, when all he could think about was that Hermione was making her way back to him with every second. Snape picked up on his distraction and punished him for it, hitting him with several unpleasant spells Harry would rather not go into.
After one such occasion, Harry sat nursing a numb arm when Snape came and sat on a wooden chair across from him.
'Thinking about her will get you killed.'
Harry looked up with a snap of his head, at once angry and puzzled. Angry because Snape would imply his connection with Hermione was a bad thing, and puzzled because, not for the first time, it seemed as if Snape could read his mind. Narrowing his eyes, he asked, 'why?'
'You're distracted,' Snape pointed out succinctly. 'If I was a Death Eater, you'd be dead. You can't afford ?'
Harry knew he was right, but hated to admit it, and so he said nothing. Snape clocked him around the ear abruptly. 'Ow! What the hell?'
'I said, do you understand?'
Rubbing his ear, Harry ground out, 'yeah, fine. I get it.'
'I know you care for the girl,' Snape spoke thoughtfully, 'and I'm not saying that's a bad thing. It's good. But you need focus. You can't be thinking about her when you're in life or death situations.'
'This isn't a life or death situation,' Harry pointed out smugly.
'Isn't it?' Snape argued, staring Harry right in the eye.
'What? You gonna kill me?' Harry shot back.
Snape flinched, so minutely Harry almost didn't notice. He took a breath and then replied, 'what I'm saying is; you should consider these training sessions life or death, because what I'm trying to teach you, besides individual spells, is how to handle things like that. And I assure you, Potter, you're going to need to know how.'
'Right,' Harry said, nodding. 'Death Eaters. Evil wizards. Goddamn nest of vipers I have to go sleep with tonight.'
'Not all of them are bad, Potter.'
'So I can feel better knowing, if I am murdered in my sleep, some might feel bad about it?' Harry laughed darkly. 'Great.'
'You slept among them all last year and nothing bad happened,' Snape pointed out.
'Except nearly setting the whole dorm on fire because of an evil snake that just so happened to be a fragment of the evil wizard that tried to kill me when I was a baby. But yeah, I'm sure they've all forgiven me for that.'
'Your point, as well as your sarcasm, is noted. But my hands are tied, Potter. The Sorting Hat put you in Slytherin, so that's where you have to go.'
'Yeah, I know,' Harry said, suddenly thinking of his little hidey-hole, which was coming along nicely, in case you were wondering. 'Just… not looking forward to it.'
'But I know what you are looking forward to, and that is your problem right now.'
'How did you even know I was thinking of her?' Harry asked the burning question.
Snape ignored it. 'Enough stalling.' He stood and pointed his wand. 'Get up or get hurt.'
(-)
Harry was waiting by the great double doors of Hogwarts for nearly a full hour before the carriages started to arrive, one by one, appearing first as little black dots heading towards the castle, and then growing larger and clearer as they drew near. He watched silently, standing still in the middle of the space between the wide-open double doors of Hogwarts. He wanted to be the first thing Hermione saw when she arrived.
Finally, the carriages began to pull up around the yard. She was the first one out, almost jumping from her ride. She looked up at him for a moment, as if seeing him for the first time.
He just smiled. Welcome home, Hermione.
