I GRADUATED LAST NIGHT! Top 15%, distinguished grad, and I feel good. I'm also rather impressed with how far I threw my cap, I thought it went into the row behind me but it actually went all the way to the other side of the "block" of students. I don't know why I feel the need to type this up even though I know that very few of you guys read it but whatever, onto the story.
Disclaimer: my initials are not JKR oh and thanks FleurSuoh for being the one hundredth review
Severus,
Cissy and I are happy to confirm that we are expecting our first child. We should be able to discover the gender in a few weeks though I am confident it will be a boy. As for now we are keeping the news under wraps so as to avoid the stress of the pure blood community welcoming a new child.
The both of us would like to see you soon, hopefully Cissy will be able to attend Slughorn's Christmas dinner. If not I will more than likely still be in attendance and can't wait to make Miss Jean's acquaintance.
-Lucius
Severus read the short letter twice more with a smirk before putting it in his pocket. Of course macho Lucius must have a son first. Severus wondered if his blonde friend ever realized how easily his name could be shortened to 'Lucy' or that most girls were so jealous of his hair.
Amusement aside, Severus was happy for his friends and proud that he was to be named the Godfather. He wondered how the pureblood community would react to that bit of news. Actually, how would He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named say? Did Lucius think of what might happen if Severus continued saying no? Probably not, Lucius was sure in his abilities to sway Severus.
But those thoughts could be postponed for just a little bit longer, until New Years at least and it was now Halloween. Severus had just come back from the celebratory feast where the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, a man named Sutton, announced his plans for a dueling club starting after the first Quidditch match. The school had tried having this club quite a few times in the past but while in never stuck till the next year the club was always very popular. Each teacher had a different reason for starting the club and Sutton's was Severus' persuasion. The young Slytherin convinced Sutton that with the war brewing outside the castle walls it would be prudent to prepare the students to defend themselves. Why did Severus do this? To see Hermione's skill of course. While the idea was originally Lucius' to determine her usefulness to the Dark Lord, Severus had to admit that he was curious and he knew she would need the practice anyway no matter her future decision.
The thought began to bring stress out of the dark place Severus had hidden it for the day. He still had not yet spoken to Hermione, or Lily for that matter, about the Dark Lord's offer. He knew for a fact Lily would not listen to him but he wasn't sure about Hermione, she had barely any knowledge about current events and only knew what people told her. Lucius was both right and wrong about how moldable she was due to her amnesia. He could inform her about the war and Dark Lord in a way to make bias one way or another. But at the same time she was smart enough to cut through the bullshit, do her own research and make her own decisions.
He personally did not want to be mixed up in this mess but his life was doomed to be woven into this war the second the Sorting Hat yelled Slytherin. The only question now was how his thread of life will be woven in this war's fabric.
XXXXXXX
The first Quidditch match came a week later and, as always, featured the arch rivals Slytherin and Gryffindor. As Severus walked to the pitch with his gloved hands buried in his jacket pockets he wondered why someone decided to put the Slytherin and Gryffindor stands right by each other. Even with the towers acting as barriers the arrangement just seemed like a really bad idea. Everyone made their way to their house stands all while yelling taunts and boasts and Severus was thankful that this time he did not see any unwanted Gryffindors. Usually Black and Pettigrew would take advantage of the game's atmosphere to bully him more openly.
He would have continued on his way to the stands, eyes open for any sneak attacks, had his eye not caught sight of an oddity. Amongst all of the energetic hyped up lions there was one that was hesitant to continue following the crowd forward. It only took a second to identify the honey brown curls.
As if she sensed his gaze, Hermione lifted her brown eyes to look into his black. Severus nodded at her in greeting and meant to leave it at that but Hermione had other ideas. She jogged over to his side earning looks of disgust, betrayal, and confusion from those who saw her.
"Hey Severus, do you think I could sit by you?" the small brunette asked timidly.
Black, hell even bumbling Pettigrew could have snuck up on Severus at that moment. He was in complete shock at her question. "Are you stupid?" he asked without thinking.
It was not until he saw Hermione's hurt face that he realized what he had said. "Well I'm sorry, I thought my company was welcome." She turned on her heel to leave before Severus grabbed her shoulder.
"No, wait, that came out wrong. It's just… you do realize that we are in rival houses right? And that they are playing each other today and these games get rowdy, don't you?"
"So? We could sit in a neutral set of stands," Hermione suggested as she adjusted her red and gold scarf.
"There is no neutral at this game!" Severus exclaimed. "Everyone has a side and one of us would be attacked in some form, most likely myself, if we sat together. Besides it's pretty much an unspoken rule that you stay with your house, not to mention what housemates would do to us afterwards."
"You act like they'll physically attack us, I don't mind a few more rumors."
Severus gripped the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed, "You have obviously not been here for very long. Look why not sit with your Gryffindor friends and I'll see you later?"
"I don't have any besides Remus, remember? And he is with Sirius and Pettigrew."
"What's wrong with being by yourself?"
"I actually don't like Quidditch that much. You know what? Forget it I'm going back to the castle." Hermione huffed away and Severus involuntarily followed after.
"Wait Hermione, hold on."
She turned around angrily, "What do you want?"
'What do I want?' Severus wondered. He really had no reason to be following after her. "Um, why don't you like quidditch?" 'Yeah great question, idiot.'
"I'm just not a big fan of it. I don't get the big hype everyone makes about it. It's noisy, dangerous, and pretty hard to follow from the ground. I normally just pay attention to everyone else's reactions."
"How many games have you been to?"
"I don't know, amnesia remember?"
Severus thought for a minute about what he should do if anything. He really didn't like her walking away angry with him or the idea that she'll be all alone in that giant and now empty castle. Then an idea popped into his head. "Follow me," he said simply as he strode off in the direction of the broom shed. Hermione had no idea what he was planning but followed out of curiosity.
He stopped in front of the dilapidated looking shed and pulled out his wand to cast a silent alohomora. Severus stepped inside for a second before coming back out with an old clunker of a broom. "It doesn't look like much but it gets the job done, now let's hurry before the game starts. There's a spare broom in there for you to take."
"Severus what are you talking about?" she asked bemused.
"We are going to fly and watch the game from above, much more entertaining I find. We have to disillusion ourselves first though," Severus explained.
"No thanks, I don't fly. I'm going back to the castle." She was prevented from leaving once again by Severus.
"You never learned how to fly?" he asked with his eyebrow raised. Hermione momentarily wondered how he did that before answering.
"Of course I've learned I just don't like it."
"So in other words you're not very good at it," Severus teased.
Hermione blushed in embarrassment, "That's not what I said."
A loud roar erupted from the pitch, "Come on the game is starting you can fly with me." Hermione was about to protest when Severus pulled her onto his broom and sat behind her. He cast the disillusionment spell and kicked off all before Hermione could really comprehend what was going on. They shot up into the air before leveling off above the Hufflepuff stands.
Hermione clung tightly onto the broom, eyes wide. "This really isn't safe."
"Some Gryffindor you are. Besides it is perfectly safe, I'm not a bad flyer. I could have been on the team in fact."
"Oh? And why aren't you?" Hermione asked trying to hide the nervousness in her voice.
Severus hesitated before answering. "My broom isn't nice enough or fast enough," he mumbled. He didn't like admitting his poverty though just about everyone already knew of it. He could have accepted Lucius' offer to let the older Slytherin buy him a new broom in fourth year but that would have wounded his pride and put himself in his friend's debt. One of the top rules of Slytherin house: never be in debt to somebody especially another Slytherin.
Hermione picked up on his hesitation and didn't prod anymore. "Okay, so you are sure this is safe?"
"As long as the snitches and bludgers stay away," Severus said under his breath.
Hermione didn't hear since she wasn't meant to, "What did you say?"
"I said we are perfectly fine now stop asking questions and watch."
For the first ten minutes the two floated there quietly with a few remarks coming from Severus as he watched. They slowly drifted around the pitch's border as time went by sometimes moving deliberately to get a better view. It was not until Hermione shifted up a little to get a better view that Severus was made aware of their exact position.
Before, there was an acceptable amount of space between the two of them, the only contact was when their arms bumped each other. But now her bottom was dangerously close to his crotch and her back was ghosting against his torso. Whether this happened gradually or suddenly with her movement he was not sure but it really did not matter at the moment.
The two rarely had any physical contact. In fact bar the attack when he dragged her, a few weeks ago when she hugged him, and today he could not remember any incidents. The first time and when he stopped her today he was not really thinking about the contact but when he hugged it was the only thing on his mind. He felt like that again as Hermione continued to be oblivious to what she was doing.
The air began to feel awkward and thick so he attempted to cut it with some comment and maybe then Hermione would finally notice. "Why do you call Pettigrew by his last name?" A random question but one he has wondered for a while now.
Hermione shrugged, "Because I don't like him." She thought that would be satisfactory answer but Severus had picked up a little something in her voice. That along with past observations showed that she more than disliked the chubby Marauder.
"You don't like Black or Potter but you call them by their first names," Severus pointed out.
"Well I dislike them less."
"What did Pettigrew do? You hate him, don't deny it."
Hermione looked down, a mistake which caused her to back up into Severus purposely for some sort of anchor. The height freaked her out and while Severus mentally groaned that this was not helping his situation at all she stopped filtering her every comment. "I don't remember it's just my intuition."
"Your what?" Severus asked.
"Uh it has to do with the amnesia and my secret past," Hermione admitted. If only she were in her right mind she wouldn't have said that.
"Are you going to tell me about that now?" Severus inquired eagerly though he tried to hide it.
"No not yet, just that I kind of know things about certain people, like whether or not to trust someone. Professor Dumbledore thinks my memories are trying to resurface. Anyway my intuition really doesn't like the rat."
Severus chuckled, "Okay that's weird and a bit suspicious but whatever. What does your intuition say about me?"
Hermione blushed a little, "Well I don't know. It recognizes you; it wants to trust you but…"
"But it doesn't?" Severus said curtly.
"No it's just not sure, at least not at first but I think now I could trust you."
"Oh really?" he asked skeptically.
They watched the rest of the game in a terse silence. Sure no one trusted him but Severus was a little peeved that Hermione didn't. The fact that she was still pressed against him didn't help. He could have told her to move but didn't want to bring any more attention to it. His mood only improved as he watched Slytherin crush Potter and his team in the end. As he began to descend back to the ground Hermione tensed up.
"Ha ha, it's kind of pathetic I'm so scared isn't it?" Hermione asked.
"Mmhmm."
"Severus… do you think you can give me flying lessons? So I can do this myself?"
Severus thought about it for a moment. "Do you trust me enough?" he asked softly. They landed then and after dismounting and ending the spell Severus went to put his broom up.
Hermione stayed where she was getting irritated with his attitude. "Would I be asking you if I didn't? I said I didn't trust you at first when you were still the jerk who would glare if I tried talking to you."
"Touché, okay I'll help you. But I should warn you that I'm not a patient teacher."
First day of summer spent writing this, my mom wasn't too happy wants me to be more social and all that. So I have a few more chapters planned and now I just need to write them along with my other ongoing story that I've been neglecting.
Now since I graduated yesterday I want graduation presents from all of ya'll in the form of reviews, please and thank. Don't forget that I welcome constructive criticism.