Oh oh oh, another cliffy. You all are going to hate me for this one, I think! Anyways, thank you for the reviews from last chapter, you all really blew me away with your responses. Ronald really is a dick, isn't he?
Ron looked at Hermione in shock, anger quickly clouding his features. "You're living with Snape? A Death Eater? I – what has gotten into you, 'Mione? You abandoned your friends to shack up with a Death Eater, of all people?!"
Hermione bristled at Ron's words, feeling the emotions she had worked so well at forgetting rushing up again at once. Her incredible rage at the boy in front of her was almost shooting out of her, and Hermione had to step back again and take a deep breath. Ron continued to look as though he would murder the first thing to walk across his path.
Severus noticed the witch struggling to restrain herself, and he brushed her shoulder comfortingly before turning to Ron. "What do you think you are doing here, Mr. Weasley?" He asked quietly, his dark eyes glittering dangerously as he coolly appraised the redhead.
"I came to ask whoever lived here where Hermione was, but it seems as though she never fucking left!" Ron said indignantly, his ears slowly turning red with anger as he realized his girlfriend was living with – with Severus Snape. His blood quickly reached a boiling point as he glared at the tall, dour looking man standing between him and his girl.
"How did you find my home?" Severus snarled, towering over Ron as he advanced a step closer.
"The owl Hermione rented," Ron stated. "The return address that was left with it, Harry helped me track it to...to here. I didn't expect you to be here, of all the fucking gits in the world my girlfriend could be staying with! You're a murderer, why the fuck is she staying with you?" Ron knew that Snape had been working for the Order the entire time during the war, but he never quite got over how much he disliked the man, and seeing him with Hermione caused him to lose all the reason that would tell him to consider what he was saying otherwise.
Severus glared down at Ron, and then quickly glanced back at Hermione, to make sure she wasn't about to blow his house up. The witch looked like she was quickly losing her grip on all that helped her keep sane. She was staring at Ron with a hatred so intense that it reminded him of himself, and his hatred of Sirius Black. Silently breathing a sigh of relief that he wasn't the one that had to deal with her anger, he whipped around again, scowling at the boy in front of him. "What you did to Miss Granger was unforgivable, Weasley, and I have been providing her a respite to get over the pain you caused her," he said silkily, watching the boys expression.
Not once did guilt flash across the boys face, rather his expression screwed up into an angry looking scowl as Ronald realized that Hermione had stayed with Snape; refusing to contact him at all, and barely telling Harry where she was. Looking up at Snape, he suddenly realized what had happened. "You fucking kidnapped her, didn't you? That's why she didn't come back, and why her note to Harry was so vague!" Ron said with as much contempt as he could muster. He knew perfectly well who would win if things came to blows, and the thought did nothing to comfort him. "Hermione," he said pleadingly as he tried to peer around Severus. "You don't have to stay with him, whatever he's forcing you to do, you don't have to anymore, just come home, please."
Hermione nearly felt the last vestiges of her self control snap at Ron's words. Kidnapped? Forced to stay against her will? Unable stand still any longer, she advanced towards the door, vaguely noting that she was walking the same way Severus did; quietly, deliberately. Sliding around Severus, she stood in front of him, glaring at Ron, and shaking as she tried to control her anger. "You-" she began as she took a step forward. "Cheated-" she took another step. "On me," she said the last words in a snarl, toe to toe with the redhead.
Severus had to bite back a smirk at how Hermione looked. Her five foot three stature had never looked so intimidating, and Severus had to remind himself that he wouldn't get electrocuted from her hair, as much as it looked like it. Gripping his wand tightly, he stepped to the side, willing to let Hermione work out her own issues, but he stayed at the ready nonetheless.
"How could you possibly think I would want to come back to you?" Hermione asked him quietly, her amber eyes shooting daggers.
Ron looking down at Hermione, and gave a small, lopsided grin. "Because I made a stupid mistake, 'Mione. That's all. We can work things out, I still love you and all, and I miss having you around, too. You can't just leave your life like this, and especially just to shack up with Severus fucking Snape of all people!"
Hermione laughed loudly at Ron, his use of the nickname she had always hated only serving to infuriate her even more. "You miss having me around, do you? What, is it too much of a bother to learn a fucking cleaning spell on your own? Upset you have to go back to your mums house to have your laundry done, eh? Worried you won't pass your stupid Auror test without your personal encyclopedia?" She hissed venomously, the tip of her wand shooting out weak red sparks in response to her anger.
Ron shook his head frantically, and stepped back, afraid of what Hermione would do. Never in his life had he seen Hermione this enraged, and he didn't enjoy the thought of what she might do. "No, no, it's not like that! I mean sure, you do know a ton of cleaning spells that came in handy, but I miss you, I really do! And Harry is frantic with worry, but he was too busy to come so I came, and I want you back, please, 'Mione, just forgive me? It was only once, alright?" Even though Ron had entertained a different witch almost every night since Hermione had been gone, the state of his apartment was looking dreadful, and he desperately needed Hermione to come back. Trying in vain to make his words sound sincere, Ron looked at Hermione beseechingly.
"Oh, just once?" Hermione let out a hysterical laugh. "This man you accused of kidnapping, has treated me better in the two weeks I have known him than you ever have in our entire relationship, Ronald," she spat. Hermione's blood was boiling. She knew right then and there, that if she lifted her wand, she would regret the events that would happen later. Growling slightly, another trait she had picked up from Severus, she noted vaguely, she spat at Ron's feet and walked rigidly back inside, the small voice of reason in the back of her mind telling her repeatedly to calm down.
Severus stepped aside so Hermione could walk by, and he glanced back down at Ron contemptuously. "You are not welcome here. Hermione had stayed due to her own choices, I never once forced her into anything. I suggest you leave. Now."
Ron stared at Snape as he turned away, the anger boiling up at having his witch so blatantly stolen from him, and by a Death Eater no less. He let out a roar of rage, and pointed his wand at Snape's back, screaming "Flipendo!"
Severus heard the boy inhale, and whipped around before the jinx hit him, calmly throwing up a shield charm, and pointing his wand between Ron's eyes. "Heed my advice, Weasley, before you do something you will not recover from," he sneered coldly. "I do not have a use for men who treat women so disgustingly as you have, and do not think I couldn't see through your lies. Go back to your newest whore, Weasley, Granger is yours no longer."
Ron bristled at Snape's words, and raised his wand again. "No fucking Death Eater is going to tell me what to do, and I swear to fucking Merlin I will release Hermione from whatever sick hold you have on her," he screamed, waving his wand about. "Reducto!"
Severus smirked as he flicked the curse away, glaring down at Weasley, scorn etched plainly on his face. "Hermione has stayed here of her own free will, and after what you did to her, I hold no doubt that she will never listen to anything you say again, Weasley. Stay away from her, if you value your health. I have no qualms with hexing someone with the morals of a rat." Severus glared down at Ron, his eyes alight with coolly suppressed anger. Jerking his head, he cast a silent spell at the fuming man.
Ron's expression changed from one of anger to one of frantic worry as he realized his tongue was glued to his mouth. His face grew redder as he tried to throw a silent curse at Snape, but he had never been adept at wordless spells, and his frustration grew. He knew he was no match for the ex-Death Eater, but the fact that Snape was glaring at him with something akin to amusement made Ron's anger double. Unable to do anything, he tried in vain to get his spell to work, and shouted it as loudly as he could in his mind, but to no avail.
Severus sneered down contemptuously at the struggling boy, and jabbed his wand in the redhead's direction. Ron flew off the steps, landing heavily on the pavement of the street, his face screwed up in pain. Severus turned around and walked back inside without another backwards glance, throwing wards up as he went to prevent Weasley from returning.
Striding inside, he walked quickly into the sitting room to find Hermione. Entering, he glanced at the couch, unsurprised when he found Hermione sitting stiffly on the cushion, staring blankly at the wall in front of her. "Hermione," he began warily, as he sat down next to her. "Weasley is gone; I do not think he will return any time soon."
Hermione nodded mutely, and turned to look at Severus. He nearly flinched at the look of utter pain in her eyes. "Hermione," he repeatedly quietly, slowly extending an arm to grasp her thigh, squeezing in what he hoped was a reassuring manner.
Hermione felt the pressure on her thigh, and finally snapped. The tears started to pour down her cheeks, and her chest heaved as she tried in vain to control the outpour of emotions. Letting out a strangled cry, she fell back, and Severus caught her steadily, holding her in his arms. Severus looked down at Hermione, and felt a tinge of worry. Hermione continued to sob, clutching frantically at Severus's robes.
She couldn't comprehend it. It was too much, it was as if every pent up emotion about anything she had ever been worried about, or hated, had come flooding out. Her wand was on the floor, spinning dizzily with the turbulence of her emotions. Gasping for breath, she finally realized what she had been to Ron all along.
A fixture in his life, a means to an end. He had only ever viewed her as a tool, something to accomplish what he couldn't do himself. Three years of her life had been wasted on some man who never thought anything more of her than an object to get what he desired. All the homework she had ever completed for him, the year of university he had to do to get into Auror training, the mountains of work he would beg and plead for her to finish, always throwing out some lame excuse about how much he loved her. Hermione let out another ragged cry as a new wave of emotions crashed over her.
Hermione shuddered violently, and Severus looked down at the witch with concern. She was shaking, and the tears were steaming down her face at an alarming rate. Placing her down on the couch as gently as she could, he turned and walked quickly out of the room.
Hermione noted his departure vaguely, and her sobbing increased as she realized the man she had been starting to truly feel for, couldn't stand her hysterics. Covering her face with her hands, she didn't bother to stop the tears as the brutal reality of her life crashed over her again and again. Severus didn't truly care for her, it was too soon, they had known each other barely two weeks. There was absolutely no way the dour man could have felt anything but lust for her, and Hermione had readily jumped into his bed without a care or a thought for his or her own feelings.
Groaning as she realized her grave mistake, she cried out again, her body trembling violently with the force of her sobs. Hermione took a deep breath in between sobs, and sat up, her vision blurry from the tears. Standing up, she bent down, and grasping her wand, she started to walk out. Slamming the front door behind her, she stood on the steps, wondering where she would go. Severus didn't want her there, she knew, so she had to leave before she did something that would hurt her even more than she already was now.
Severus returned to the sitting room, a calming potion in hand, along with what he knew was Hermione's favourite poetry collections; she had rambled on about them for nearly two hours one evening, after Severus had casually mentioned he had a collection of muggle poetry works. Smiling slightly at the memory of the witch he had grown to care for so much in such a short amount of time, he stopped short when he realized Hermione was no longer sitting on the couch.
Looking around wildly and finding she wasn't in the room at all, he ran upstairs, taking the steps three at a time. He had to find Hermione, and quickly, as she was in no state to be left alone. Magic was a volatile thing at best, and without the strict control of its user, it could blast off at any moment. Dumbledore had reaped the tragic repercussions of something like that happening, and he couldn't have that happening to Hermione.
Glancing into her room, he quickly ran to his, only to find the same disappointing emptiness. Rushing back downstairs, he paused to consider where she could have gone. Quickly he opened the door, and breathed a quick sigh of relief when he found Hermione standing in the middle of the street. "Hermione," he said, trying to keep the rush of relieve from his voice.
Hermione whipped around at the sound Severus's deep voice. "Severus," she started as she looked at him. Severus slowly descended the stairs, careful not to do anything sudden. He figured that treating a sobbing, emotionally traumatized witch could be compared to helping an injured and scared animal.
Hermione looked at him sadly, and Severus found himself extremely confused at why she was looking at him with with such heart break in her eyes. "Hermione, what happened?"
She shook her head mutely, and walked towards him. "I should have realised sooner, Severus, I'm so sorry."
Severus looked down at her, and felt a slight worry in the back of his mind. "What exactly are you blathering on about?" he asked tersely, using all of his well honed disguising skills to hide the worry that was threatening to seep through his voice. He didn't know why, but at that moment, he realised that he wanted Hermione in his life for as long as she would have him, and he was most certainly not going to lose her to that stupid dunderhead.
Hermione gave him a small, sad smile. "Thank you for everything Severus, I really do appreciate it." She stepped back as she spoke, and Severus figured out what Hermione was doing within an instant, and quickly lunged forward before she completed the spin, grabbing on to the hem of her shirt as they quickly disappeared out of sight with a large CRACK.