Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, the characters and world all belong to J.K. Rowling.
Please Read and Review. If you love it great, if there is something wrong please tell me, and if you hate it I respect your view-point.
Previously:
"I don't understand. I mean, I understand that she is giving Severus unwanted attention but what I don't understand is what information Severus needs from you and why this Vane girl will never cross you."
"That is exactly what I wish to know", a new voice said from behind the group.
Everyone could not help but stare in shock at the newest person to join the group.
"Oh shit", Hermione mumbled staring wide-eyed at the new addition.
"Oh dear", Molly said as she saw the rage in the new additions face.
"I didn't do anything", Harry said as he slowly distanced himself from Hermione.
"Hey Hermione", Ron said, "when Snape kills you can I have your car? I always wanted one after flying Dad's."
At that moment everyone looked pointedly at Ron and he could not help but shrink back at the glare he was receiving.
"Miss Granger", Severus Snape said in a silky tone that could barely contain his rage, "do you have any idea what you have done?"
"Um, well, I'm beginning to see that I may have just signed my own death warrant, Sir." Hermione replied.
"You would be correct if it were not for the fact I need you alive and whatever information you have in your head that pertains to one Romilda Vane. So you have two options Miss Granger, the first you answer all my questions and get me away from that harlot or I take it from your mind and curse you into the next century!" Severus said with barely suppressed rage. "Now which do you choose?"
"It's not like you didn't have it coming.", Hermione replied.
"Miss Granger, answer the damn question or I will make your dealings with the Dark Lord look like a tea party. Now answer me!", Severus shouted.
It was in that moment Hermione became afraid and realized that maybe her plan of revenge had not been well thought out in the beginning. 'Well what can I do? Obviously I have to help the Great Snake or else Ron will get my car' Hermione thought.
"Alright, I'll help you. But I will tell you that both my help and information may be limited in certain areas."
"Miss Granger, I don't think you understand the severity of what you have done. You no longer have a say in whether or not your help will be 'limited' as you put it. You will help me with no complaints and you will rid me of that harpy as soon as possible! Do I make myself clear!", Severus screamed.
That had been the wrong thing to say to Hermione. Rage poured from the young witch and it took all her control not to reach across the table and slap the potions master. No one talk to her like that!
"Oh no I will not!", Hermione screamed back. "I don't know what you have done to catch her attention and frankly I don't give a rats arse I will tell you this right now Severus Snape you will take whatever advise I give you and you can take your threats and shove them up your arse! Don't you dare threaten me you Great Bat! You know just as well as I do you had my revenge coming after what you did to me! So YOU have to choose, either shut the hell up and listen to what I have to say about that bitch or leave! Choose!"
Severus Snape could not help but stare at the woman before him. Gone was the imagine of a hand raising, annoying little know-it-all and replaced with the image of a strong, fiery young woman. Severus could not help but be impressed with the young woman's declaration and courage for she had been one of the very few to stand up to him. 'Hmmm', Severus thought, 'Granger certainly has blossomed into a beautiful woman. All that fire and intelligence. It's ashame that such a woman could be so insufferable.' Seeing that the two were in a stall mate, Severus conceded. After all, he did need the woman alive and he quickly made a note that after her task was done there would certainly be hell to pay. Making up his mind.
"Alright Granger, I agree to your demands. Now tell me what you know about Vane. How do I rid myself of her?", Severus asked. It was at that point Severus took a seat at the batter kitchen table right in front of Hermione to discuss the details of his problem. 'No reason why I shouldn't be comfortable', the potion master thought.
Hermione watched Professor Snape's movements with some caution. She knew that at any moment the man was likely to strike and at that thought it made wary of giving any information she had towards him. 'I have to make some conditions', Hermione thought. "Before I tell you anything I have some conditions. First you will give a wand oath stating that after I help you out of your Vane situation you will not seek any sort of revenge against me once my task has been completed. And then, I want another wand oath from you stating that you will not take any sort of revenge against me for any past indescretions", Hermione stated.
"Such as", Severus drawled.
"You will not take revenge on me for being a hand raising, insufferable know-it-all, for being an annoyance to you all seven years while I was a student at school, for setting your robes on fire during Harry's first quidditch match", "That was you!?", Snape roared. "Yes, may I continue?", Hermione said. Upon seeing a confirmative nod Hermione went on with her conditions, "you will not hold my petrification against me or me stealing potions ingredients from your private stores."
"That was you? I knew you were the one to brew the polyjuice, but I thought Potter or Weasley were the ones responsible for the theft", Severus said in surprise.
"Nope, all me."
"I want to be reimbursed, those were valuable ingredients I had purchased from my own private accounts."
"Sounds fair, how much?", Hermione asked.
"Fifty galleons", Snape deadpanned.
"What!? But boomslang skin alone is worth only ten galleons!", Hermione snapped.
"I might not be able to seek revenge against you, but I can charge for the stolen potion ingredients, my time and service for creating your antidote to your cat problem, and the antidote itself. I believe that is only fair", Severus drawled.
"Fine, I'll an owl you later on in the week with your money. Will that suffice?"
Severus only nodded at the witch's statement and could not help but feel a small satisfaction at finally making the woman pay (literally) for being a thorn in his side.
"Good. Now where was I? Oh yes, you will not take revenge against me for punching Malfoy, for knocking you out while were in the Shrieking Shack, for having you protect us against Remus, for saving Buckbeak and for saving Sirius. I can't think of anything during our fourth, fifth, and sixth year, oh, and you will no longer hold it against me for saving you from Nagini's bite. You already told me what you thought once you regained your voice and I believe you humilating me in front of all the students and teachers at Hogwart sufficient revenge on your part. Do you agree?", Hermione finished.
"Unfortunately, I have no choice but to agree to your demands. I will take the wand oath, however, I do have one question", Severus drawled.
"And that would be Professor?", Hermione said, curious as to what the question might be.
"Why did you save me? Ever since I woke up in the hospital wing and Poppy informed me of your actions I have always wonder why", Severus said softly.
Hermione was taken aback by the question. She had prepared herself for everything else, but not that question. Truth was, she didn't really know the answer herself. She just remembered the moment she saw Snape lying in a pool of blood on the dirty floor of the Shrieking Shack she knew she could not leave him without doing everything in her power to save him.
Taking a breathe, Hermione softly replied, "I just couldn't." Upon seeing the professor's curious look Hermione continued. "The moment I saw you on the floor, close to death, there was this strong pull of protection and I knew I just couldn't let you die. Even after everything you had done to us throughout our years in school and Dumbledore's death, at that moment I forgot everything and just wanted to protect you. I know you probably push it off as me being a foolish, sentimental Gryffindor, but that's the truth. I don't want anything from you and don't expect anything. All I wanted at the moment was to protect you", Hermione finished, looking away from the potion's master.
Severus couldn't help but be taken aback by that answer. He had prepared himself for any response that required repayment of some sort, but not that heart felt answer. At that moment Severus understood the young woman's reasoning. He had felt the same pull himself after the girl had been petrified. It had been such an unbelievable feeling that he had reasoned it dealt more with the young girls age instead who she was. But as time went by he noticed the pull of protection grow stronger. Through the threat of Black and Lupin, to the second challenge during the Tri-Wizard tornament, to the Umbridge's rein as High Inquisitor, through the Department of Mysteries fiasco, and the war against the Dark Lord all he ever felt towards the young Gryffindor, other than annoyance, was a strong feeling of protection. It had confused and infuriated him all at once. So Severus had made a decision after being saved by Granger and that was to keep as much distance as possible between the two of them hoping the feelings would disappear as quickly as they came.
Unfortunately for Severus that had never came. Even at that very moment, though he was furious with the insufferable know-it-all he knew he wouldn't kill her. Stangle her within an inch of her life, yes, but not kill her.
A deafening silence spread across the group. Apparently the other occupants in the room had just been as surprised as Severus to hear Hermione's declaration. Hermione, herself, could not help but blush at her admission and quickly look away from the penetrating stare that the Professor was now giving her.
No one knew what to say or how to move on from the topic, but the tension ran high in the room and everyone remained silent hoping for someone brave enough to break the ice. After sometime had pass Molly decided she couldn't bare the tension anymore and decided to bring everyones mind off Hermione's admission.
"Would everyone like a fresh pot of tea?", Molly asked standing up, grabbing the cold teapot in her wake.
It was what the group needed to break themselves from the deep silence and each individual answered a quick 'yes'. While Molly busied herself in front of the stove Hermione took that moment to speak.
"Um, Professor do I have your wand oath about my conditions?", Hermione asked quietly still not meeting the potions professor's eyes.
"Yes", Severus answered quietly, "you have my wand oath that I will not seek any revenge towards you for the reasons you have listed."
At that moment, Molly returned with a fresh pot of tea and a cup and saucer for the professor to help himself with. That was all that was needed to break Severus from the trance he had on Miss Granger's face and redirected his attention to making himself a well needed cup of tea. Once his tea was to his liking, Severus began to speak:
"Now Miss Granger, what can you tell me about Miss Vane. Why is it that you are the only individual she does not dare cross?"
"For me to answer that, you will need to take another wand oath." Severus was about to yell at the young woman's audacity, but Hermione interupted him. "It's not for myself Professor, it's for another. I'm not trying to gain anything from you, I'm just trying to protect someone I love who would whether forget her dealings with Romilda Vane, instead of being reminded of them."
Severus was about to tell her where she could put her wand oath, but it was Ronald Weasley who interupted him this time.
"Please Professor. I know what's she's about to tell you and I ask you to please take the wand oath. She's not trying to fool you, she really is trying to protect someone, someone I love very deeply and would do anything to make sure that harpy doesn't hurt her again, so please take the oath", Ronald asked beseechingly.
It took a moment to notice the sincerity in the young man's eye and realized that Miss Granger had been telling the truth. Obviously whomever Granger was trying to protect, Weasley was trying to protect as well. Seeing no sign of falsehood, Severus conceded.
"You have my oath, whatever is spoken here today that the person you are trying to protect will remain anonymous and I will do no harm to said person. Will that suffice?", Severus asked.
Breathing a sigh of relief Hermione nodded and decided to begin her tale. "There are reasons why I cannot go into the details of the confrontation I had with Romilda because of an agreement I have with her. However, I can give you the details leading up to the confrontation and a general idea of what occured during the confrontation and give you the advise needed to try and escape her. Is that understandable?"
"It appears that I do not have much of a choice. Proceed", Severus answered.
"Okay, how much did you hear from my conversation with Molly?" Hermione asked.
"Enough to know that you had a confrontation with Miss Vane after Mr Weasley poisoning", Severus replied.
"Great, I don't have to explain that part. Alright, that was not the only time I had a confrontation with Vane. I need you to understand something first before I get back to my second confrontation with Romilda. Okay?" All Severus could do was nod and Hermione proceeded with her explanation. "During the final battle a lot of secrets came out that night. The truth about Albus Dumbledore's death, your true allegiance, the destruction of the horcruxes, and so forth. But what a lot of people don't know was that another truth came out that night that only myself, Ron, Harry, Ginny, and Lavender Brown are aware of."
"And that would be Miss Granger?", Severus asked.
"That because of our deep involvement in the war and the sacrifices that we willingly made for both man-kind and wizard-kind, the Fates had decreed to gift us with our soulmates and both Harry and Ronald have already found theirs ."
I know another cliffy and an unusual one as well. I would have continued but couldn't figure out a way how so I had to end the chapter. Please don't be mad! Thanks to all those who have reviewed, added as favs. or are following!