A/N:
Anything you recognize belongs to JKR
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Chapter 8: Greyback
Being Harry's birthday today Hermione had been very busy in the lab trying to get everything done as quickly as she could. Even though she had come early to work today Snape had put up a bit of a fight when it came time to change the wards. So in the end she started work ten minutes later than usual. Somehow she had gotten him to agree to come to dinner this evening. The deal was that he would not have to participate in any of the festivities. When she had gone down for lunch she had met up with Harry and Ron who were also on their way to the kitchen. When they got there Mrs. Weasley told them that Arthur was able to get off early tonight and that they would be having dinner around eight. This is one of the reasons that Hermione was now rushing. She refused to miss any of the festivities.
"Professor would you mind helping me with this last step? It says that I have to pour the powdered khor root at the exact right moment and I'm not sure exactly how to know when that is."
"I thought you said it sounded silly to call me professor." He said in his usually smooth tone.
"Well that may be true but it will still take some getting used to. Besides we only have a month until school starts and if I get too used to calling you Severus I may slip up in class. And I'm sure you can agree that that would not be good."
"You are going to want to put the khor root in, in about 20 seconds." They both waited silently. "Now." He said decisively. She poured it in obediently.
Hermione turned to look at him. "Thank you Severus." She said putting emphasis on his name.
He smirked at this. He knew that she was teasing him about his last comment.
"Oh by the way I forgot to tell you. When I went down to lunch Mrs. Weasley said that we would be going to Diagon Alley tomorrow to get our school things. Will that be all right? I need to go and it seems safest to go with the rest of the group." She said biting her lip in worry.
"Yes, yes that will be fine I will just change the schedule a little I'm sure that there are some salves and healing potions that need to be brewed I used quite a lot up yesterday."
Hermione cringed inwardly at the thought of what had happened yesterday but didn't show any signs of discomfort.
"Thank you for being so understanding." She said with a small smile.
"I am not being understanding! There is no way around the issue of you buying your school things. You need to go with a group to be safe. And the group is going tomorrow. It will of course be putting me out a great deal! I just don't see the point in complaining about it!"
"Okay, okay pretend I didn't say anything!" She said rolling her eyes at him. He was one of the only people she knew that would be offended by being called understanding.
"So I'm just about done. All I need to do is decant this. I will need to wash up before I go down there. I will come by when I'm ready and we can go down together."
Snape just nodded and turned to go to his private quarters.
Hermione again rolled her eyes at him. He really could be such a child sometimes!
It was just past seven when Hermione knocked on the door to Snape's private quarters.
After a few seconds the door swung open. "I am surprised you knocked. Now that you have access to my wards I thought you would have just walked right in." He said teasingly.
"Severus please you know I wouldn't do that! I told you I would only ever use that privilege if I thought it was an emergency."
As they walked downstairs they talked about some books that Severus wanted Hermione to pick up for him. "Also if you could get me the parchment I like. I am starting to run quite low, oh and maybe some quills as well."
Hermione just nodded silently as she made a mental note to buy all of the things he was listing off to her.
"Hermione!" They both looked up, they had made it to the main floor and could now see that they had arrived around the same time as everyone else. Closest to them was Tonks who was also the one who had called out to her. Behind her was Bill who was greeting Fleur and behind them were Kingsley and Mr. Weasley.
"Hi Tonks! It's nice to see you again so soon! How are you?"
"I'm okay. Do you know where Molly is? I had a question for her."
"My bets on the kitchen." Hermione said nodding in the direction of the kitchen.
"Thanks." And with that she left the two there to be welcomed by everyone else. Luckily Bill and Fleur were wrapped up in each other and did no more than nod at the two of them as they passed. "Hello Kingsley!" Hermione said brightly.
"Hello Hermione. Severus its good to see that you are well!"
"As I told you both last night I was and still am perfectly fine."
"Why don't we move into the kitchen?" Hermione said changing the subject quickly.
When they went into the kitchen only Mrs. Weasley was in there.
"Oh hello! Everyone is outside in the garden it was too crowded in here to have a sit-down dinner so we will be eating outside tonight!"
"Do you need any help Molly dear? Arthur said as he greeted his wife.
"No, no I'm fine! Go outside with everyone else enjoy yourself!"
They all made their way outside. Hermione could see Severus stiffening. It was quite obvious that he didn't want to be here. She decided to get a conversation going that Severus could perhaps join in on. "So Mr. Weasley how was your day? Have they been able to catch the people who have been planting those metamorph metals?"
"No, no but we did have some news today it will be in the paper tomorrow." He said with a somewhat sad tone.
"Oh and what news would that be?" Hermione said interestedly.
"Igor Karrakoff was found dead today with the dark mark above where he had been hiding."
Oh this was not good. Not good at all. She knew that Karrakoff had been somewhat of a friend to Snape. She gave him a side-glance from what she could tell he seemed fine. After a few moments Harry called her over to where he, Ron, and Ginny were talking. Hermione left Snape to mingle with Arthur and Kingsley as she went over to join their conversation. In the middle of a joke that Ginny was telling Hermione saw out of the corner of her eye Snape disappearing back into the kitchen. Hermione quickly excused herself and went to find him. When she got into the kitchen she was half expecting him to be in there. But no such luck.
"Hen went upstairs dear."
"How did you know I was looking for him?"
"Because wherever one of you goes the other usually follows." Mrs. Weasley chuckled.
"That's not true is it?"
"It has been true for some time now. You work together, live together, eat together most of the time and the only time you left this house was with him. I think it is nice that Severus has a friend. I was worried for him after that whole Jarvis mess. But it seems that I had nothing to worry about."
Hermione smiled awkwardly. "Yes… well I better go find him. If you could hold dinner a little bit for me that would be great it shouldn't take to long."
"Of course we wouldn't dream of starting without you!"
Hermione smiled again and then quickly walked out of the room. As soon as the kitchen door closed she started running up the stairs. When she reached the top floor she was a tad out of breath. As she entered the lab she looked around to find it empty.
She walked over to the door behind his desk and knocked softly. "Severus its me can I come in?" There was no answer. "Severs….. I'm coming in."
As she opened the door she immediately located his silhouette against the fire. He had his right arm on the leaning on the mantle while the left held a glass with an amber liquid in it. He didn't look up to see her come in. He just kept looking into the dancing flames. "I thought you were only going to use that privilege for an emergency." He said in an icy tone.
"I consider this an emergency." She said quietly as she made her way over next to where he stood. She lightly placed her hand on his fore arm. As soon as he felt her hand he jerked away.
"Please I do not need your sympathy. Just leave me in peace!"
"Severus you need to talk about this! I know he was a friend of yours-"
She was interrupted by a merciless laugh. "Hermione he wasn't my friend! I do not mourn his death. He was stupid he publicly betrayed the Dark Lord! I am surprised he lasted this long!"
"Then why-"
"Don't you see? That could have so easily been me. I too have betrayed the Dark Lord. I too have no family. I have the same reputation as him for being in love with the dark arts. Don't you see? One day that will be me. I will die and nobody will care. It will be a blurb in the Prophet and that will be all." He said with such pain. He then emptied the rest of his glass in one gulp and simply dropped it to the floor as he deflated right in front of Hermione.
Hermione wasn't sure what to do. If it had been anyone else she would have just hugged them. But this wasn't just anyone this was Severus Snape.
"Severus! You are being ridiculous! You are not going to die at the hand of Voldemort or any other Death Eater in fact! You are going to survive this war and torture students for another 70 years!"
"You don't even know the half of it! If you knew my situation I don't think that you would be so sure." He said in a hateful tone.
"Then tell me Severus what is your situation! Enlighten me!"
"Eventually I will tell you. But not now…. not yet."
"If you are already planning on telling me then why don't you just tell me now!"
"I have my reasons!"
"Fine! Fine keep your secrets. But I will not let you mope! If you don't want to go back down stairs I will understand."
"No I don't think I am up for the festivities this evening. Please send my regards to Potter."
"Severus, look at me." He slowly met her gaze at this point they were no more then two feet from each other.
"Do you really believe that I wouldn't care about your death?" She had tears in her eyes and he could hear the pain in her voice.
"No I apologize. " She knew that this was the only response that she would get to her question. "Would you like me to bring you some cake?"
"No I am not in the mood for cake at the moment."
"Okay I will see you tomorrow when I drop off the things from Diagon Alley."
Snape just nodded in reply.
zzzzzzzz
Hermione walked into the lab bright and early about ten minutes before seven. She had a lot of work that needed to be done on account of going to Diagon Alley the day before. One of her motives for being early was to ask Severus a few questions before they got started for the day.
However when she got to the lab Severus wasn't there so she just stared on her duties. About twenty minutes later Hermione was hunched over her desk trying to figure out an arithmancy equation that would help anti-venom antidote. Finally she heard the door open announcing Severus arrival.
"Good morning Severus." She looked up to see him making his way over to her desk. "Where were you?"
"Not that it is any of your business but I was downstairs eating breakfast when I was ambushed by Fleur…." He paused a moment to shudder at the memory. "She wanted me to brew some special shampoo that is very expensive because it is for half veelas. She just kept begging me, I finally had to say yes just to shut her up. Where were you! I could have used you to distract that insufferable witch!"
"Sorry, I wanted to get here early so I went downstairs for breakfast early." She said with a guilty expression. "If you want I will make the shampoo. I am after all your assistant doing menial tasks is in my job description."
Severus immediately lightened up at this realization. However he did not tease her as he usually did. "What are you working on?" He said leaning over her to see the paper she was writing on.
"I'm working on that arithmancy problem that will help us figure out how to add the powered root without the cauldron exploding." She said frustrated as she crossed out the last three steps she had just written. She seemed to be thinking in circles. "I just can't seem to make this work!" She said angrily as she slammed her pencil down and leaned back in her chair. She jumped back quickly when she realized she was pressed against Severus' torso. She had completely forgotten that he was standing behind her! "Sorry I forgot you were there." She said distractedly.
He said nothing for a moment and then summoned his chair to land right next to hers.
And ignoring what she had done completely he said, "It looks like you forgot to add the type of metal the cauldron is that should help giving you a clearer idea what to do next." He said completely focused.
"Yes….. you're right! How could I have missed that!"
"That's why there is two of us. So we can catch the other's mistakes."
"You never make mistakes."
"This is true." He said with a teasing look.
Hermione just rolled her eyes at him.
Around twelve they were able to take a lunch break. Hermione had gone down and gotten food for the both of them. When she came back up Severus had cleared his desk and had brought her chair over next to where he sat. she smiled kindly at him as she walked over to him. "So what did you get us for lunch?"
"Nothing special I'm afraid the Weasley twins were just finishing up their lunch as I was coming in they pretty much cleaned out the kitchen." She said as she handed him his sandwich.
As they were sitting in silence eating their food Hermione decided that this might be a good time to ask Severus what she had wanted to ask this morning.
"Severus? Who is Greyback?"
He immediately started to choke at hearing her question. Fortunately he recovered quickly.
"Where did you hear that name? Tell me!"
"Yesterday in Diagon Alley!"
"Who was talking about Greyback!"
Hermione was terrified she hadn't thought that her question would evoke such a violent reaction.
"Who was talking about Greyback?" he said in an insistent manner.
"Malfoy!"
"Did he threaten you with Greyback!" His eyes had become slits now his entire body was shaking with anger.
"No! No, he didn't even know we were there! We had followed him to Borgin and Burkes-"
"And by "we" am I to assume you are referring to the Golden Trio?" he said in a snide tone.
"Errr…yes." She said guiltily.
"You mean to tell me that you followed Malfoy into Knockturn Alley with no protection and then decided that it would be a good idea to spy on him!"
"Ye-"
"HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID!" He stood up quickly slamming his fist onto the desk. "Do you have any idea what would have happened if you had been caught?"
"I'm sorry I didn't want to go but I couldn't let Harry and Ron go alone and I couldn't stop them!"
"If you had been caught Hermione I might not have found out in time! And if Greyback was involved…" He trailed off not seeming able to finish his sentence.
"Severus?... Who is Greyback?"
"He is a werewolf, a werewolf of the worst kind. He does the Dark Lords bidding. He tends to play with his food it….. it is not a pretty sight trust me." He shuddered at what Hermione could only assume was a memory of such an event.
"I'm sorry I shouldn't have brought it up."
"Hermione its not a good idea to spy on Draco this year you must persuade Harry to stop spying on him."
"Why?"
"You know I can't tell you. But I will say that since the imprisonment of his father Draco has changed. It would be wise to stay out of his way. Just trust me."
"Well I can try to persuade Harry to stop but I don't think he will. I think it's his way of avoiding the death of Sirius."
"I didn't think of you as someone who gave up so easily?" he said teasing her now.
She rolled her eyes at him. "I didn't say I was giving up I just said it might be difficult."
They ate the rest of their lunch in companionable silence.
It was now eight, Hermione was exhausted. Around five they had finally figured out the answer to the equation. They then decided to make up a test batch of the potion to make sure their hypothesis was correct, which had taken the rest of the day.
Even though Hermione was exhausted she sat down as usual for their nightly chats. She looked over at him expectantly. Instead of sitting down next to her he walked over to the door behind his desk.
"Why don't we retire to my study? The chairs are much more satisfactory than the ones out here."
Hermione smiled brightly and followed him through the door.
"I didn't get a chance to tell you the last time I was in here how much I like your rooms."
"I'm glad you approve. What ever would I do with myself if Miss Granger did not approve of my rooms?" He said in sarcastically.
"Cant you ever just take a compliment?" she said slightly annoyed.
"No." He said as he poured himself a glass of fire whiskey.
"Would you care for a drink?"
"No thank you I am not really a fan of fire whiskey."
"Suit yourself." He said as he sat down in one of the chairs by the fire. Hermione followed suit and sat down in the one across from him. "You're right these chairs are lovely." She said as she made herself comfortable and curled her feet under herself.
"By the way Miss Granger I had almost forgotten one of your items somehow found its way into the bag holding my parchments. I thought you might want it back." He said with a sneaky smirk. Hermione wondered what would make him smirk like that when she saw the object that he had pulled out of his cloak pocket. Hermione instantly blushed. It was one of Fred & George's daydream potions. On the cover there was a princess and a prince kissing in a field of daises.
"I hadn't taken you for a daydreamer Miss Granger."
"Oh I….. well Fred and George gave them to Ginny and I for free. I wouldn't have ever purchased one!
"Yes…. I'm sure." He said in a non-believing tone.
"Oh you know it's the truth! Don't look at me like that! Besides even if I had purchased it what does it matter! I am entitled to daydream every once in awhile! Its not like I would ever use it during class. Well maybe divination if I was still taking it." She said with a smile.
"What ever you say Hermione." He said chuckling. Hermione loved it when he laughed especially if she had been the source of it, even if it was at her expense. She liked to think that she made his days just that little bit better by being there.
"By the way here is the latest issue of Potent Potion Monthly. I would like you to read it by tomorrow there are a few theories I would like to try out" he said handing her the magazine.
"Okay, thanks I will read it after dinner."
"Be sure to read the Editor's Note it is quite entertaining. It is a mystery to me how this dunderhead is the one in charge of putting this magazine together. It is a wonder that they are able to produce one issue a year let alone twelve."
Hermione laughed. She understood what he was talking about she had read the last Editor's Note and it had been equally idiotic. "Yes, thank you I will be sure to do that!"
They sat in silence as Hermione read the one of the shorter articles in the front.
"Do you realize that we only have a month until we go back to Hogwarts?"
Hermione looked up from the article and made eye contact with him.
"I know the summer has gone by so quickly. For the first time ever I find myself not wanting to go back just yet. I am enjoying myself too much working with you. I know once the school year starts we will not be able to work as much and we will have to hide our work relationship from everyone. It will be a frustrating year that is for sure."
"Mmmm" Snape said in agreement. "That it will be. I am also not looking forward to going back. I usually cannot wait for the summer to be over. It usually consists of Death Eater meetings then followed by meetings with Dumbledore. But the work we do here is something that I actually like doing. It will be hard to go back to the routine at school."
"Is that what you would choose to do if you had a choice?"
"I'm not sure….. possibly. Maybe I would teach and then do my research in the summer and free time at school."
"Well maybe after the war you can do that." She said enthusiastically.
Snape laughed at that. "Hermione it will be a miracle if I come out of this war alive. I do not plan on doing so I have betrayed one of the darkest wizards of all time I don't think I will get away with it."
"You must not think like that!"
"It is a fact Hermione. There is nothing I can do about it."
"It is not a fact! Why do you keep saying that as if it is?"
"You are such a Gryffindor at times Hermione…" he said trailing off.
"Well if being a Gryffindor means that I do not think my life is going to end early then I'm glad to be a Gryffindor!"
"You are too young to know how fragile life is."
"Excuse me? I know how lucky I am to be alive Severus! And I also know that I might not survive long enough to graduate Hogwarts! I am a Mudblood." Severus cringed at the use of the word. "Don't cringe Severus that is what I am and I'm proud of it there is nothing to be ashamed of. I am also Harry Potter's best friend. Every time I go outside of this house I have to have a guard with me so I am not kidnapped! So please Severus DO NOT tell me that I don't know how fragile life is!"
They were both silent for a moment while Hermione caught her breath.
"I- I have never thought about it like that." Severus said quietly. "I am sorry I was being glib please excuse me."
"Its fine Severus. I know that you have a lot on your plate I don't expect you to remember but all I was trying to prove was that our situations are not so different yet I made the choice to think positively instead of wallowing in self pity. You can do the same you know."
"Hermione when have you ever known me to think positively?"
Hermione immediately through back her head and laughed.
"No I suppose you are not one who sees the glass half full are you?" She said whipping away tears. "Well I better get going, dinner is in an hour and I still have to wash up. Will I see you at dinner tonight?" she looked at him hopefully.
"Not tonight I'm afraid I have some things that I need to take care of this evening."
"Okay I will see you tomorrow then! Good night!"
"Good night Hermione."