Chapter 17
"Thank you," Hermione said, once she found her voice again, "for bringing them."
Snape nodded at the girl, adding the rose thorns to another potion. They had taken to his private brewing room immediately following the encounter, and they had kept a strained but contemplative silence. Hermione knew Snape had heard her confession to her parents, and he knew she would prefer those thoughts remain private and unexplored for today.
"If you wish, I can pass on letters to them at their safehouse," he offered. "It may be some time before you can see them again."
"Thank you, Professor," Hermione murmured gratefully.
There was more silence as Severus stirred the potion, his eyes low to watch the change of colour with shrewd eyes. At the precisely right moment, he added the Horklump juice and started to stir counter-clockwise.
"You're handling this well, Miss Granger," Snape informed her. "Whatever you must do to cope, know you will find little resistance from me."
Hermione allowed herself a melancholy smirk. "Are you encouraging me to cry, or telling me you'll let me drink my troubles away?"
"I have Ogden's Finest Firewhiskey in my study," Snape allowed. "Or, if you prefer, Minerva always gifts me ridiculous flavours of mead around the holidays. Last year the impertinent witch thought I'd be more inclined to celebrate Christmas if I consumed what equated to a burning version of a ginger snap. I believe I have the previous four years of horrid flavours hidden in my liquor cabinet."
Hermione laughed. "I didn't know you and Professor McGonagall were friends."
"Minerva," Snape emphasized, "is not one you can refuse easily. I will never admit to entertaining a friendship with the witch, but she will never hear otherwise."
They shared another moment of silence. Hermione remembering her head of house while Snaoe thought on another female Gryffindor who, much like Minerva, had come to have his loyalty. He thought on the fate of the young witch after the year was out. When Albus died and the wizarding world fell to her master, what would the girl do?
"Sir, school begins again tomorrow," Hermione commented. "I don't have any of my books, or even have my uniform."
"I had your parents give them to me prior to their relocation," Snape told her. "Your trunk is yours. Do you believe you can bring it back with you to the Dark Lord's base without him destroying it?"
Hermione thought on this. She hadn't yet asked about returning to Hogwarts, but she had thought Voldemort would deny her request. She shuddered at the thought of him blasting his way through her school books. "I don't know, sir. I'd prefer to not give him the opportunity until I've spoken with him."
Snape nodded his head. "I would do so tonight, Miss Granger. He will learn from one source or another. If you return tomorrow without informing him, I will be doing so myself regardless."
She shuddered at the thought. "Alright, tonight. What will you do with my things?"
Severus focused on his brewing, ignoring his instinct to freeze at the girl's questions. "As you will not be residing here, Miss Granger, you will need only a temporary home wherein you may change and gather books for your classes, perhaps rest and study if you feel so inclined. There is a space, linked with my own chambers, reserved for a number of students who require my personal supervision. The other heads of house use it for troubled students who may not be ready to integrate with other students. I have few students who qualify, and none who would prefer my company to behaving themselves in their house. As such, you may use one of the rooms for our purposes, if that is agreeable."
"Really?" Hermione took in her dour Potions Master. "You're letting me into your personal space?"
"I fully expect I will come to regret it," Snape sneered at her reflexively, "and should the Dark Lord ask me I will inform him that it is to ensure the safety of his pet."
"And the real reason?" Hermione didn't flinch at his words, only moved closer to him as if looking for an answer in a rare book.
Snape grimaced at the intense scrutiny and focused his own on his potion. "Have you given a thought as to how you will avoid Potter and his cronies? Your usual sanctuary of the library will do little to deter them from ensuring your well-being."
Hermione frowned as she thought on it. She hated dreading her friends company, but she knew they would ask her about what had happened and . . . Hermione shouldn't want to avoid them, but she would rather not give excuses for things she did or moments she had. Her guilt over giving Voldemort another weapon against Harry was still overwhelming whenever she thought of the scarred boy. She couldn't use the Room of Requirement, as they knew of it and would know it had been instructed to keep them out, and Moaning Myrtle would tell on her to Harry for a smile. The only place they wouldn't follow would be here, with Snape.
"So . . . you're offering a room with you so I can hide?" Hermione put forth, apprehensive.
"If that is what you need," he affirmed. "You may be a part of the Slytherin house for the term, but you may find better company in my proffered chambers with the sole other occupant."
At her silence, Snape backtracked. "It is not your only option. We can arrange for a private chamber for you if you prefer."
"No, that's fine," Hermione insisted. She looked down awkwardly. "It's very kind of you."
"Kind?" Snape sneered at her. Her eyes widened at the sudden hostility, and Snape sighed as he lost the will the be mean to her. "Don't tell Minerva. I've been trying very hard to convince her of my selfish tendencies."
Hermione grinned.
Snape did the last few stirs into the elixir before taking the strainer and draining the finished Nocturnus Potion into a separate cauldron. He carefully used a copper ladle to decant the liquid into the glass vials he had on hand before corking them and sealing all but three with a wax coating.
"I need to take this to the Hospital Wing," Snape addressed her finally. "You are free to remain here, if you wish."
"No, I'll come." Hermione jumped up from her stool. "I could always apparate you there, sir."
"And risk giving Poppy an early heart attack?" Snape drawled. "No, Miss Granger, we will walk."
Hermione was starting to catch on to her stern professor. He cared, and it was refreshing to be able to see that in his words. He cared for Madame Pomphrey, for her, for McGonagall, even when everyone believed him cold and heartless.
Like someone else you know, Hermione noted. No, she wouldn't allow herself to think like that. Snape was one thing, he was genuinely looking after her. Voldemort, however, was not some innocent forced man. He'd given her up to be tortured and he'd raped her himself. She couldn't allow herself to forget it, no matter how human he now looked and acted.
The thought left her melancholy on their walk. Snape didn't try to engage her in conversation, seeming to be focused on his task, and Hermione offered nothing in return. The walk let Hermione fall back into herself, fully aware of her situation.
Snape swept into the Hospital Wing with Hermione on his flank, letting her freeze in the doorway when the occupants of the wing turned to stare at her.
"Oh God," Hermione muttered under her breath. How could she have forgotten the people from just a few days ago, still here being treated? It wasn't everyone, as some would have gone home to their families like Ollivander and Megan. But one set of eyes penetrated her as she froze in the doorway – Draco Malfoy. Grey eyes met chocolate, and Hermione approached cautiously to the young classmate that Snape was now administering his potion to.
"Drink this promptly," Snape told the young heir, pressing the dark potion into his hand.
Draco lifted it to her. "To Granger."
Hermione stayed after he'd downed it, letting Snape take care of delivering the other vials. She looked down on Malfoy in his bed, looking better than he had when she'd brought him here. Some colour had returned, the bags were all but gone from under his eyes, and he actually looked better than dead. In fact, he may look the best he had all term.
"How are you?" Hermione asked weakly, unsure of how to speak to the boy.
Draco smirked at her. "A fair bit better than you, Granger. You look terrible."
The usual anger she felt at him rose up at that. "You can't just be nice, can you?"
He raised his hands in surrender. "It's a joke, Granger, relax! I'm just . . . Look, you saved me back there. I' not going to deny I'm grateful for that. But you don't get to worry about me, Granger."
"Really?" Hermione glared at him. "Who does?"
Draco narrowed his eyes at her. "Not you, Granger. Take care of yourself."
"I do!" Hermoine growled.
"Stop it," Draco chastened roughly. "You're always looking for the worst in what I say, Granger, but this time I don't mean any harm. I don't mean you can't look after yourself, but . . . really, Granger, you look like hell. Hey, I did too after being under You-Know-Who's thumb for a week, I don't blame you."
"What?" Hermione whispered, crossing her arms across her chest.
Malfoy looked at his childhood rival with concern and pity. "Granger, you told me he got to you. You're still a prisoner, aren't you?"
Hermione closed her eyes and took a breath, trying to hide her vulnerability from her childhood enemy.
"I'm not trying to hurt you," Malfoy whispered to her. He'd never seen a girl so obviously upset but not crying. Even his mother had her moments, but Granger was forcing herself to be strong in front of him, and for some reason he hated it.
"Granger, you're the one everyone here has been talking and worrying about. Jones told everyone about how she was tortured, so we know that You-Know-Who has some sort of hold on you."He shuddered visibly. "Trust me, I know what that's like. Are you alright?"
Hermione had to grin a little. "You, Malfoy, are offering me a shoulder to cry on? It's official, I didn't pull Malfoy from the dungeon, it was a weird non-evil twin brother. No wonder they locked you up."
Malfoy scoffed. "Believe what you want, Granger. If you're going to be rude, go pester my godfather."
"Interrupting your beauty rest?" she sniped, unable to help herself. "Wait, godfather?"
"Severus," Malfoy informed her with a signature smirk. "Come on, you knew that."
"I did not!" Hermione shrieked happily, laughing at the new information. "Goodness, that explains so much! No wonder he favoured you."
He gave her a pointed look. "I'm not the only one he favours now, I think. Just how did you manage to become friends with Uncle Severus, Granger?"
Hermione shrank under his teasing scrutiny. "I don't know if we're friends, really. He's just been, er, helping me through this. It's been a hard couple of weeks."
"I believe that," Malfoy affirmed, his face turning dark. "For what it's worth Granger, it should never have been you. You deserve better than that."
The earnest expression on his face had her leaning in closer to the young Malfoy who, before, had made her life a living hell. He didn't look on her with pity . . . no, this was different. It was an understanding. He had been through hell the last six months after Voldemort's return, and she could see how it had changed him.
"How much did they tell you?"
Malfoy leaned back into his pillow. The movement made him wince, but he fixed a look of determined apathy on his features at the pain and chose not to let it pause their rapport. "Not much, Granger, not much. My parents clearly had no idea before my rescue, so my godfather's the only one I've trusted to tell me anything. All he said was 'Miss Granger let her idle curiosity get the better of her and was unlucky enough to end up as the Dark Lord's pet.' What does he mean by that, Granger? And how were you able to apparate within my family's wards?"
Draco watched as the strong Gryffindor he knew shrank into herself at his questions. She went to hug herself, hold herself in agony, and he reacted on impulse. He reached out with his seeker reflexes and snatched Granger's hand before she could roll herself into a depressed ball. Her hand was cold in his, a stark contrast from the fiery witch he knew. Her chocolate eyes met his, as if asking why?
"Don't do that," was his only response. At her look of confusion, he elaborated. "Don't close off. You have no reason to open up to me Granger, so if you don't want to tell me what's going on with you and HIM tell me to shove off. Call me every name in the book, like you usually do, just don't do that."
"Why?" Hermione asked him, her eyes wide and vulnerable. "Why can't I?"
"It's not you, Granger," Malfoy simply said, intensely aware of his hand on hers. "You became the Dark Lord's pet and immediately turned around and bit him by freeing his prisoners. You are a fierce Gryffindor lioness, and to see you like that is just . . . disconcerting."
Draco Malfoy was encouraging her. Her heart thudded with the remnants of an old crush she had let die, or so she had thought. It was now brushing up against her with warmth. She didn't move her hand in his, hoping he'd let it stay there for a while.
"What would you do if I started crying?" She teased, trying to lighten the mood again.
Malfoy smirked at her. "Probably call for my godfather, who would then smack me upside the head for not knowing how to deal with you."
Hermione laughed. "He wouldn't be much better. He'd shove a calming draught at me and pinch his nose as if I was regurgitating a textbook."
"I was always jealous of how you did that," Malfoy frowned at her, clearly reliving the past. "How in the name of Merlin did memorize every textbook?"
"I didn't memorize," Hermione protested, "I just read and reread until I could recall all the major points. Don't tell me you weren't similar, you're second in the year."
Draco held his nose up snootily, faking an aristocratic sniff. "I'll have you know that some of us like to have social lives during school."
Hermione laughed openly at the rogue Slytherin, earning smiles and sparkling eyes from the offending youth. He looked quite handsome when he did that, or more when he wasn't being a prat.
"How touching," a familiar drawl broke the moment.
Hermione stole her hand from Draco's as if shocked. Both children avoided the piercing black eyes of Severus Snape as he looked down on them. Hermione hoped her pink cheeks weren't giving her away.
"Putting aside your differences?" Snape inquired, his brow quirked.
"Yes, sir."
He nodded at them. "Good. You will have ample opportunity to interact this term, and I would not wish to place you both in full body binds regularly. I informed you both there would be only two occupants to my delinquent chambers this term, correct?"
Hermione and Draco looked at each other simultaneously, eyes widening.
"We're living together?" they yelped.
Snape smirked at them. "Consider it training for any promotions to Head Boy and Girl. I would consider giving a glowing recommendation for the both of you if you manage to survive the term marginally intact."
Malfoy snickered at his godfather's comment. Hermione snorted. Both of them looked at each other, shocked that they found his comment funny. This would take some getting used to.
Snape stood next to Draco's bed with authority in his stance, but humour in his face as he looked at them. Hermione got the feeling he was going to enjoy pitting them against each other this coming term. "Is that agreement?"
"Yes, sir."
Snape nodded. "Now, Draco, there is another matter that we need to discuss before we let you rest. Miss Granger has certain . . . capabilities that the Dark Lord uses her for. One of these may help with the issue we discussed previously."
"Sir?" Draco asked, suddenly wary. "Is it safe to ask her?"
Snape rolled his eyes at his student and turned to address Hermione directly. "Miss Granger, Mister Malfoy would not tell this to you, but he is concerned for the well-being of his parents. Will you confirm their safety for him?"
She looked at the strained look on Draco's face. It was clear he cared for his parents very much, so much so that his expression was close to breaking as his eyes flitted over her face uncertainly. Her own parents' faces were stuck in her mind from just the hour prior, and she found her heart going out to him.
"I'll see, Professor," Hermione agreed. "Give me a moment."
She closed her eyes and felt out for the signature of the Malfoy matriarch and patriarch she had met the previous day. She got briefly distracted when Malfoy asked Snape what she was doing, but refocused her attention to the wards she was linked to. Like zeroing in a fly in a large room, she found their signatures at Malfoy Manor. They weren't in the dungeons . . . they were separate, one in the chambers or some room on the third floor, the other pacing on the first floor. They both seemed OK, with a strong enough magical signature for them to feel healthy to her. Voldemort wasn't in the building, and the only others signatures she found we of the house-elves, which felt as linked to her as the masters of the house.
Interesting, Hermione thought, I wonder what that means?
She opened her eyes and turned her gaze to Draco.
"They are healthy and alone at Malfoy Manor," she reassured him. When his eyes went wide, she took it as a response enough. "Do you want me to check in on them regularly? Make sure they're safe?"
Her heart went out to Malfoy as he frantically nodded.
"How do you do that?" Draco demanded.
She grimaced.
Severus interjected. "You did not think the Dark Lord would keep around an insufferable know-it-all around for her company, did you? I thought you were more intelligent, Draco."
"What?" Draco looked between his godfather and Granger. "Did he do this, or could you do this before?"
"He did," Hermione grimaced at the memory. "Or I made it so he could use me like this. Please, let's not talk about it. Your parents are safe, that's all that matters."
It didn't look like Malfoy wanted to let it go, so Hermione raised her hand to silence him. She decided to get out of there. She stood and pulled her robes to make them more presentable.
"Well, I'll be going, Malfoy," she told him anxiously. "See you in class."
"I'll be another moment, Miss Granger," Snape told her before she could leave. "If you can help it, do not leave until I have a chance to speak with you."
She nodded curtly and promptly rushed from the Hospital Wing.
