AN: Ok so a few of you guessed part of what was going to happen in this chapter - I don't know whether to be proud or annoyed! On the other hand many of you had no idea what was going to happen and I took a sadistic pleasure in knowing more than you ;) Just kidding - maybe. In other news, I realised when I was proof reading that I probably should have given a warning before the last chapter about the increase of bad language but I totally forgot – sorry! Just so you know the language doesn't really get any better in this chapter either – it's not my fault, Hermione just gets very 'sweary' when she's angry, *shrugs* ;) Anyway, I've kept you waiting far too long with my rambling, so here you go. Happy reading...
"Lemon drop?" Severus merely glared at Albus in disdain. The headmaster chuckled softly and popped one of the sour sweets into his own mouth. "Do you have much on today Severus?"
"Only a detention with Miss Granger this afternoon." Severus drawled.
"Ah of course." Dumbledore nodded. "This must be her last one, isn't it?"
Severus only nodded in reply. It was, indeed, Granger's last detention with him, as today was the last Saturday before the Easter break.
"I have good news on that front, actually." Dumbledore chirped cheerfully. Severus only quirked an eyebrow to indicate his mild interest. "You see, I was rather hoping that, as she has started up correspondence with her parents again, Hermione might go home for the Easter holidays." Dumbledore paused, but Severus made no comment. "Well, unfortunately, my hopes were rather premature…"
Snape couldn't help but smirk. "I take it Miss Granger was disinclined to acquiesce to your request?" He mocked.
"She wasn't keen, no." Albus admitted.
"And this is good news how?" Severus asked tiredly.
"Well obviously that wasn't good news, but I did eventually convince her to go and have lunch with her parents on one of her days of holiday." Dumbledore grinned rather pleased with himself, though at Snape's unimpressed look, he added, "I realise it's not quite the improvement we'd hoped to see, but progress is progress."
Snape scoffed. "A flobberworm can make progress Albus, it doesn't mean it's getting anywhere soon."
The headmaster frowned slightly at the younger man's cynicism. "Really, Severus, can't you appreciate that this is an important step forward? We've been trying to get Hermione to see her parents for 6 months now and she has finally agreed. This is a positive step forward." Dumbledore insisted.
Severus huffed. "If you mean 'positive' in that it means I will soon be able to stop watching the insufferable Miss Granger, then yes, it is positive."
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I imagine it would be a great relief for you when you are relieved from that responsibility." Blue eyes twinkled mischievously behind half-moon spectacles. "Of course, if Miss Granger were to reconcile completely with her parents and it were no longer necessary for you to watch over Miss Granger, then it would also no longer be necessary for you to discover the initial reasons for Miss Granger's departure from her family home. I sincerely hope that wouldn't leave the issue…unresolved for you."
Severus scowled, there was nothing he hated more than leaving a situation unresolved and if it was left like this he would always feel as though he had failed the mission that Dumbledore had given him. "Dammit, Albus! I did everything I could, the girl wouldn't talk!"
"My dear boy, I'm not saying that this is your fault. I, myself, failed to persuade Hermione to open up to me about her problems."
"Then what exactly are you saying?"
Dumbledore's face suddenly turned more serious. "Severus, I would be delighted to see Hermione reunited with her parents, but it doesn't change the fact that she left in the first place. I fear that if Miss Granger were to make up with her parents at this time, then people will forget that something happened to the girl to make her run away. Hermione Granger is a sensible and intelligent girl; she wouldn't have become estranged from her parents for a trivial reason, and that suggests to me that something big must have happened to her in order for her to change her behaviour so dramatically. I believe that even if she does reconcile with her parents she will still have whatever caused this disruption weighing heavily on her shoulders."
"So you would like me to continue to find out what happened last summer despite this so called 'progress?'" Severus asked with narrowed eyes.
"I would. And, while Hermione continues to remain quiet on the subject, we must consider the possibilities."
"Possibilities." Severus repeated without question.
Albus gained a determined look in his eye, one which Severus had seen on a number of occasions when the headmaster was faced with a challenging puzzle. "Well we know that the event occurred while she was staying with her parents, and that she was very angry with them for a period, but also that they don't seem to have any idea what caused their daughter to leave." Severus nodded.
"But that makes no sense. How could they do something to upset her so much, but not know they had done it?"
Dumbledore shook his head slightly. "I really don't know."
"Perhaps," Snape ventured, "It wasn't something her parents did at all, maybe she was just trying to push them away or distance herself from them. Maybe she was trying to protect them?"
"Perhaps." Dumbledore agreed. "Although that doesn't explain why she would now change her mind and agree to see them."
"Maybe she felt bad for hurting them, or realised that moving out wouldn't stop the death eaters from tracking them down and harming them."
"It's possible." Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully. "Anyway, you must be getting to lunch. I'll leave you to see what more you can discover from Miss Granger."
"Yes, Headmaster," Severus replied as he rose from his chair to leave. "I'll let you know if she reveals anything this afternoon."
"Very good, my boy, very good."
Hermione practically skipped down to the dungeons that afternoon. It was her last detention with Snape and it felt as though the world had been lifted off her shoulders. She just had to spend one more afternoon with him and then she'd be free and hopefully wouldn't have to suffer his presence alone again.
Hermione knocked on the door to the potions classroom and waited, anxious to get this last session over with. She heard Snape call from the inside and entered quickly, walking up to the front desk with a small smile on her face and a light bounce in her step. Snape looked up briefly and snarled at her disposition. He had absolutely no intention of making this last detention an easy one.
Once she was stood before him, Snape spoke slowly. "Miss Granger, today I will decide whether you are capable of brewing potions safely among your peers. This will depend on your successfully brewing the blood-replenishing potion." He paused and eyed her appraisingly, waiting for her to object. They both knew that this potion was highly advanced and only usually taught towards the end of 6th year if not 7th. Hermione knew he was setting her up to fail, but she wouldn't rise to the bait. She nodded silently to show her understanding and had every intention of brewing the potion well even if it killed her.
Snape merely waved his wand at the blackboard in response, saying, "The instructions are on the board. Begin."
Hermione read quickly through the ingredients and instructions. It was certainly a complicated potion, but there didn't appear to be anything too impossible. Mostly it was just the precise timings that would be tricky. Hermione didn't dawdle any longer and went to get the ingredients she would need.
After 10 minutes the potion was going well, she had added all the ingredients correctly so far, had stirred the potion for exactly 30 seconds and now the potion was the same rusty orange colour that it was supposed to be. Hermione gave a small relieved smile that she had done well so far, though it soon disappeared when Snape rose from his desk and stalked towards her. He peered into her cauldron and then moved to stand behind her without saying a word.
As Snape loomed about a foot behind her and a little to the side, Hermione could feel his black eyes watching her. She had been about to add the sprinkle of scurvy-grass when his presence made her hands fumble and she accidentally added a whole handful, instead of the intended pinch, to her potion.
Hermione swore under her breath and quickly worked to correct her mistake, but she heard Snape tut disapprovingly behind her. She felt heat flood her cheeks and felt her anger rise at the injustice of being penalised for a mistake that he had caused.
The next hour or so continued in a similar manner. Hermione would be doing perfectly fine until Snape walked up close to inspect her and then she would make a stupid mistake under the pressure of his scrutinizing glare. Hermione's need for his approval was too great; the pressure to high, she couldn't cope and began to crumble before him.
Finally, when he smirked cruelly at the sludge that her potion had become, Hermione snapped.
"Back off!" She yelled at him, throwing down her ladle with a clatter. "I can't cope with you scrutinizing every little thing I do! I wouldn't make mistakes if you weren't leering over me all the time."
Snape, rather taken aback my Hermione's outburst, struggled to make a response; not that she required one.
"This whole bloody year has been a complete disaster and it's all your fault! Why can't you just leave me alone?"
If anything, Snape was even more confused; he was pretty sure they weren't just talking about a screwed up potion anymore. Still, Severus didn't take kindly to being addressed in such a manner.
"Miss Granger…" He drawled dangerously in warning.
"Seriously, just leave me alone! I wish I never had to see your face again!"
Hermione became silent, panting heavily and looking pleadingly directly into his eyes. Severus looked straight back holding her gaze and searching her face for some explanation of this sudden outburst against him.
Suddenly, Hermione felt a prodding between the eyes and recognised the feeling of infiltration of her mind. The extra practising with Harry must have paid off because her shields went up reflexively.
Severus had made a split second decision to use Legilimency on the girl. He knew that it was extremely illegal to use Legilimency on a student against their will and that Dumbledore would be furious if he ever found out, but the draw of finding out what had caused the afternoon's outburst and what had caused the fundamental changes in her behaviour all year, was too great. He entered her mind carefully but had barely been inside for a few seconds before he was suddenly trapped in a room lined with mirrors. All he had experienced of her mind in those seconds was the whirlwind of emotions that she was feeling towards him in that moment; mostly hate and anger, but with an unexplainable sense of shame and also something else which Snape couldn't quite place.
Trapped in the room of mirrors it took a while for Severus to realise that she was using Occlumency, but when he did he was amazed. For a 5th year to know Occlumency at all, let alone to this standard, was unheard of and involved phenomenal skill.
Hermione didn't think she'd ever felt so angry as she watched Professor Snape from the other side of her one-way mirrors. She couldn't believe that he would attempt to invade her mind with Legilimency and fury fuelled her hate of him in that moment. With utmost control Hermione spoke inside her own head so that Snape would be able to hear from where he was stuck in the room of mirrors.
"Get the fuck out of my head." Snape heard her deadly tone of voice and left Hermione's mind as quickly as he could.
Back in his own head, Snape couldn't find any words to speak; torn between the guilt of what he had just done and shock at the mental power Hermione had just displayed. He looked down into her face and saw pure loathing in her eyes as she glared at him in anger. He thought she might explode with rage but when she spoke her voice was quiet and slow, if slightly shaky from the effort she was taking to retain control.
"How dare you invade my mind? From now on you stay the hell away from me! I'll come to classes and complete my work like I always have, but you will leave me alone. You won't speak to me or ask me questions and you won't hassle me in potions. From now on I am nobody and nothing to you, and you will stay away from me."
Severus didn't say anything. The slightest incline of his head indicated to Hermione that he had understood and agreed to what she said and she picked up her school bag and left the room in haste.
Hermione ran through the corridors with no sense of where she was going. It was only when she reached the grand mahogany doors to the library that she realised that her feet had taken her to the place she felt safest in the whole of Hogwarts without direction. As she pushed open one moaning door, Hermione slowed her breathing, conscious of how loud her heavy panting was in the stillness of the library. Entering, the door closed behind her with a soft thud, though it was still loud enough for her to receive a sharp glare from Madam Pince. Hermione tiptoed across the vast room, her body calm at last, even if her mind was still in turmoil. She felt sick to her stomach whenever she thought about how close he had been to knowing the truth.
Hermione's thoughts raced like a freight train while her body wandered amongst the books. Her mind flashed with the possible consequences of such a revelation. He would shun her, she was sure, but Hermione couldn't decide what form it might take. It might anger him; he would accuse her of lying or else just be sickened by the idea that his only offspring was the bushy-haired, buck-toothed know-it-all; he would banish her from his sight. Alternatively, he would pretend she had never told him the truth; he would ignore her in class, pretend she didn't exist and try to hide, even from himself, how much of a disappointment his daughter was to him. He probably wouldn't even believe it was true. It was, after all, so highly improbable. Hermione was nothing like Snape, in neither looks nor disposition. Where he was dark, she was fair; where his eyes were onyx, hers were amber, and where she smiled, he snarled.
In fact, thinking about it now, Hermione could barely believe it herself. Unexpectedly, Hermione began to doubt what she had held as truth all year. Maybe Snape wasn't her father after all. She had thought the name 'Severus' uncommon, but perhaps it wasn't as unusual in the wizarding world. She had thought the description had matched him too closely to be any other, but now she considered that she had read too much into it after seeing the name 'Severus' written where her father's name should be. At the beginning of the year Hermione had repressed any desire to test her hypothesis for real, too scared that it would confirm her worst assumptions, but now she was feeling a lot more optimistic that real tests would prove her suspicions wrong.
Perhaps, it was that Hogwarts: A History was Hermione's go to book in times of distress, or perhaps it was more of the magic of Hogwarts leading her to where she didn't know she wanted to go, but somehow Hermione found herself in genres beginning with a 'H' and just happened to turn around and find herself looking up at the same hereditary section that had frozen her in her tracks a few months previously.
In that moment Hermione made a decision: she would find out the truth once and for all. Searching the shelves Hermione took down 3 or 4 books that she thought would be relevant and took them to a discreet corner of the library where she sat at a table tucked behind a shelf of books on water plants and their magical properties. It wouldn't do to be found engrossed in hereditary books. She flipped through the books quickly, looking for something appropriate. Her first choice was a book of spells that contained incantations on revealing blood status and parentage, as Hermione's best skill was charms. Unfortunately, all of the spells in parentage were either too complex or else required another person to perform the spell on her. The second book contained a number of paternity potions, but these either took too long to brew or required a hair of the suspected father. As Hermione had just told Snape to stay the hell away from her, she didn't think it would be that easy for her to get at one of his hairs without arising suspicion. Finally, in the third book Hermione found a potion that would do what she required. This particular potion would reveal the names of her biological mother and father and combined the use of both potion and incantation.
Her only problem would be getting hold of some of the ingredients. Mostly, she could get the items from the Hogsmead shop; they were common enough in potions that buying them wouldn't raise suspicions. However, there were a few items that were a little harder to come by and would probably require a trip down Knockturn Alley if her activities were to remain secret. Hermione smiled a little to herself, how fortunate it was that Dumbledore had made her agree to have lunch with her parents in London…
AN: Thanks for reading everyone. Please keep the reviews coming, I've had some really great ones recently and they're all a pleasure to read as I like to know what my readers are thinking. I know you're all getting excited about the big reveal and I can tell you that the truth will come out in just a few chapters time, so keep reading and I'll see you there! Thanks xx