Chapter 4:
Of course Severus went with her to the lab, quite curious about how she would handle certain complex sections of the potion process itself. However, his attention was soon drawn elsewhere when there was a long break in the process where the potion had to simmer.
"Ooh, it's chilly in here!" Professor Granger exclaimed before giving him an unusual look. All of a sudden, however, she was gone and a lynx with a heavy winter coat appeared on the desk next to his perch. "Ahh, that's better," came her voice straight into his consciousness. "It's always more comfortable being in animal form in these chilly rooms. Wouldn't you agree, Severus? Or is your form a bit too tropical for these conditions? I must admit that a fruit bat isn't quite the kind that you would normally expect to see in the dungeons of a Scottish castle. At any rate, while we have some down time, I think it is time that we had a bit of a discussion, don't you? So tell me, do you require some sort of assistance from me or are you just in need of some company? After all, five years is a long time to be alone – voluntary or not."
Despite himself, Severus gasped with surprise and would have fallen off of his perch if he hadn't been careful enough to catch himself at the last moment. "You know...?"
Hermione the lynx just flicked her tail nonchalantly as she looked at him. "Of course, I know. Brightest witch of my age and all that rot, remember? Plus, you have been living in my chambers for a couple of weeks now. Did you honestly think that I wouldn't notice that you read the books I left laying around, or the way that you looked at my scars? What about the way Lonny was surprised when he saw you and how he almost called you "Master," or the interest that you paid when you visited my classes, the fact that your old chambers have been sealed off from the rest of the castle, or even the scars on your neck – especially since I was there and saw them being acquired? Yes, I know your secret, Severus. However, you can rest easy. Nobody else does. You are still presumed dead…and it will stay that way…if that is what you wish."
Severus was completely floored. Not only was she an animagus, but she already knew his secret and had done so for quite a while, apparently. Not only that, but she seemed quite unconcerned about the whole situation – even to the point that she had no plans to tell anyone if he didn't want her to do so. She was being extremely thoughtful – to him! Why? A surge of both confusion and gratitude flowed through him and he wondered what to say or do when she interrupted his thoughts.
"I have to assume, however, that your transformation – or at least the length of it - must not be entirely voluntary – especially since you have not shifted back into a man and throttled me, or at least deducted points, yet for my impertinence at calling you by your given name. However, I must warn you that I refuse to stand on formalities now – especially since we have been living together all of this time." Her ear tufts twitched in amusement as she waited for him to say something…anything.
"Well," he drawled as he recovered from his surprise and gathered up some of his old personality and draped it around himself protectively like a cloak. "I must admit that I am quite surprised…and even a bit impressed with your intuition…Miss Granger."
"Hermione," she responded. "No formalities, remember? Plus, I think…No, I know…that remark was the nicest thing that you have ever said to me."
Severus's new found guilt attacked him again as he realized that it was the truth. "Then why are you helping me? Why aren't you concerned that I am still alive? Why haven't you told anyone…not even Minerva?" he couldn't help but to snarl.
The lynx just looked at him and flicked her tail for a moment before answering. "Make no mistake about it, Severus. You were an absolute wanker to me and my friends – when there was absolutely no reason for you to be. However…" here she paused and shook her little feline head before continuing. "I saw what happened in that shack. You didn't deserve to die that way. I knew that I had not been able to help you enough at the end, since I just didn't have the right supplies with me, and I was in pretty bad shape myself. However, I had always hoped that somehow you managed to stay alive…and that you got away to safety – especially since no body was ever found. I was the one who went back to retrieve it, you know."
Did she just call me a wanker? was his first thought. He couldn't quite figure out if he was amused or indignant at the thought. Then his thoughts turned a little more serious. She went back for my body? Especially in the state that she was in…even before she fought in the battle?
"As for why I haven't told anyone…Well, you have been missing for five whole years. I just wanted to know if that was on purpose or not. I told myself that if you disappeared after you healed and the weather had cleared, then you wanted to be alone – and I wasn't going to deny you the right to that peace – if that was your choice. Therefore, I kept your secret. However, you stayed instead of leaving. We both know that it wasn't because you had fallen in love with my beauty and sparkling personality and couldn't bear to leave me, so I assumed that your complete isolation for the last five years wasn't exactly planned and that you were a bit lonely or that you needed my help with something or that quite possibly both of these things were true." She shrugged her feline shoulders. "You didn't or couldn't seem to get around to the point of telling me. Therefore, I thought that I would go ahead and take the first step for you. However, where you want to go from here is completely up to you!" Here she paused and her ears pricked forward as a timer went off in the lab signifying that the simmering process was finished, "I have a potion to finish." Here she jumped off of the table and shifted effortlessly back into human form. She stepped over to his perch where he just glared at her with some emotion that she just couldn't interpret as a human. "Now, there is no reason to be like that, Severus. Nothing has really changed, unless you want it to. Plus, you really are still one of the most handsome bats that I have ever seen!" She smiled at him sincerely and reached out to stroke his ears for just a moment in the way that he liked. Then without another word, she walked over to her simmering cauldron, lifted the lid, and added the next stage of ingredients. She started to sing her Slavic folk songs again and basically ignored the bat's presence in order to give Severus a chance to process everything that had just happened.
Severus recognized the tactic and felt an odd sort of appreciation that she would consider his feelings like that. After all, nobody else ever had. To get his rampant thoughts under control, he watched her prepare the next step of the potion and was again impressed with the woman's skill.
Meanwhile, Hermione purposely kept her eyes averted from his side of the room. Even though she had conjectured that her animal guest was really Severus Snape in disguise, it was a bit surreal to know for a fact that it was actually true. She was quite curious as to what he wanted or needed from her. She wondered if he could even bring himself to ask. Therefore, she decided that she would just stay in her human form for a while and give him some time to think about it. Besides, even though she didn't know how she now felt about his human side, she had enjoyed the company of his animal side very much and was in no hurry for her bat friend to leave.
After a couple more hours of intense work in the lab, she pushed her sweaty hair out of her face. "That's all for today then. It will need to simmer overnight." She cast a quick Tempus spellto check the time and frowned slightly. "Well, it looks like dinner is already over in the Great Hall." She then looked over at Bat Severus, who had spent the time torn between his own thoughts and watching her as she worked. He had desperately missed having the ability for potion making and had wished to be at her side helping her with the delicate and complex potion. He even seen a few places where he could have offered advice about a few small changes that he had discovered over the years that would have made the process easier for her. He found that he would have liked to share those little tricks with her – especially since he was quite impressed with her skills. Then he realized what he was doing. Did I seriously just think about wanting to work with the witch? About sharing my secrets with her? he asked himself incredulously just as she started to speak to him. "What do you think about asking Lonny to bring us up some dinner and then we can spend the evening by the fire with a couple of good books?" She looked at him intently, knowing very well that he could choose to leave her at this time and go back to…well…whatever it was that he did before she rescued him. However, she couldn't help but to smile when he gave a small nod of acquiescence instead. He had decided to stay with her, at least for the time being. "Excellent! You know the way, Sir Bat." Then she gestured for him to precede her out of the room so that once he had flown out, she could set the wards to keep wayward students or anyone else out of the room with the volatile potion.
The evening turned out to be a comfortable one. Hermione summoned Lonny and asked him if he would be so kind as to bring both her and his Master some dinner. At her wording, Lonny looked frantically at the bat in the way of a loyal house elf who was afraid that he had somehow failed in his duty. However, he was reassured when Bat Severus simply nodded at him from his perch. He relaxed further when Hermione laid a comforting hand on his shoulder and told him that he had been doing a fantastic job and that she would keep his secret. After partaking in the veritable feast that Lonny had procured for them in his happiness, Severus assumed that she would want to pick up their conversation where they had left off earlier…and he didn't know if he longed for it or dreaded it. However, she didn't mention it and she didn't transform. She just went to one of her many bookshelves and picked out a text for herself. Then she turned to him. "Was there any particular one that you wanted to read?" she asked and gestured towards the shelves. He had been hungrily eyeing her shelves since his arrival and wasn't about to turn down her offer. Therefore, he immediately climbed up the shelves and stretched his wing out towards a newer edition Potions manual that had been published after his death. She didn't comment. She just plucked the book off of the shelf and laid it open on the table by his perch. He then watched her walk back over to her seat by the fire and open her own tome. She was apparently already engrossed in it before he stepped eagerly up to his own text.
Therefore, he didn't see her raise her eyes and watch him surreptitiously and even smile at the sight. Not only did the reading bat look adorable, especially when he folded his wings and used his little bat "fingers, toes, and elbows" to turn the pages, but also because she had figured out his secret. She knew now for sure that he just couldn't turn back into a human for some reason – or he would have definitely done so for such an activity. All that was left was for him to tell her why and if/how she could help. She knew instinctively that asking for help was not something that he would be comfortable with doing, so she wondered how she could help him with that, as well. A sudden inspiration came to her, and she got up from her comfortable position and went back to her shelves. She went straight to her Transfiguration section – specifically where her books on becoming an Animagus were located. She picked out the one that she was looking for…The Animal in You, a study about Animagi whom had been stuck in their animal forms and the possible reasons and causes for such problems in the first place. She then laid it out open on his table as well. Then, without having looked at him once in the process, she sat back down and resumed her own reading. Bat Severus took one look at the book in question and then back over at the woman across the room. Clever witch, he couldn't help but to think and realized that his opinion of her had only grown much more admiring than he ever thought it was possible to – especially considering that she was both Potter's sidekick and a Gryffindor. Then he remembered her words down in the lab about him being a wanker when he didn't need to be…and he realized guiltily that he had just done it again.
Before long, she sighed, closed her book and stretched luxuriously – just like she would have if she had been in her feline form. He watched her through his bat eyes, and his bat face gave away no trace of his internal thoughts. However, his human mind couldn't help but to admire her womanly curves…especially when she moved like that. I've been a bat way too long if I am now finding Granger attractive, he thought sarcastically. Then the guilt rushed him again as he thought about all that she had done for him – and about the scars she carried. She had even said that men didn't find her attractive because of them. That really does make me a wanker, doesn't it? Old habits die hard, I guess. He knew he was right when she showed that she didn't seem to have any such reservations with him…even though she now knew his secret.
"Good night, Severus," she said, as friendly as ever, when she came over to him and stroked his ears, head, and neck gently as she had every night since she had met his bat form. He closed his eyes against the pleasurable feelings that she invoked so easily and cursed himself for his weakness again. However, in a show of atonement for some of his less than appreciative thoughts, he did rub his head against her hand - much like a cat would. He realized how much easier it was to show affection in his animal form than it had ever been in his human one…and it felt nice, as well. She didn't say anything, but she did smile at him again. This time the warm smile seemed to reach down inside of him and caress something that had not been touched in a long time. Then she was gone – leaving Severus alone with his confused thoughts once again.
He tried to take his mind off the witch when he eyed the second book that she had thoughtfully laid out for him. Due to his several bat naps throughout the day, he had plenty of energy left and was in no hurry to go back to sleep. Therefore, he thought that he would browse the book and see if any helpful information could be found. He found what he was looking for in Chapter Five: Potion Interactions and Mishaps. Bingo! he thought and left the book open to that page so that Granger could see it in the morning. Then that would be one less thing that he would have to explain.