Hermione had barely made it down the first set of stairs, her entire body shivering, when she bumped into the familiar figure of Severus Snape, clad all in black and staring down at her.
She managed, very smoothly, not to physically bump into him but she stopped short on the bottom step, eyes wide.
To her surprise the staircase began to move and the wizard caught her by the hips, lifting her and settling her on the stationary floor beside him rather smoothly. It surprised her, how easily he'd lifted her from her feet, without any type of hesitation, when she thought about it she was almost certain he avoided all forms of physical contact. Her shivering had been hard to miss when he had her under his hands and he cocked an eyebrow at the little witch.
"Why, may I ask, are you out of bed at this hour, Ms. Lupin." Hermione swallowed, eyes wide on his face as she stared up at him.
"Th- thank you Professor!" She squeaked before looking around and wrapping her arms around herself. "I had a dream, I needed to see Remus…" She trailed, eyes still wandering, his fingers twitched to reach out to her but he stopped himself and gave a little nod.
"Perhaps not a dream then, I see you are incredibly rattled, would you like an escort?" He offered his arm to her and she chewed her lip as she stared up at him.
"Protect me from the wicked staircases?" She managed a half-hearted smile and hooked her own arm through his, he gave a little nod, black hair cloaked his face for a short moment.
"That and so much more." He exhaled, barely audible and Hermione had to question if she'd actually heard him as they began to walk in the directions of Remus' private quarters.
He'd only taken up the rooms when she'd started Hogwarts, when she'd been home all of the time he spent his evenings with Hermione and Sirius. She treasured those memories, now more than ever.
"I'm not distracting you from anything, am I?" Hermione questioned with a little gasp, as if just realizing he was out of his bed at the hour too, he had to have had a reason, didn't he?
Snape cleared his throat, and glanced to the witch who had her eyes on him, brow furrowed.
"Nothing more important than helping a witch in trouble I can assure you. I had only to finish checking the castle for students out of bed."
"I guess you found one then." She gave a nervous laugh, it sounded odd even to herself and she winced.
Finally, after a long silence they came to Remus' door and she cast a long glance at the dark eyed Professor. "Thank you."
Snape gave another little nod, his black eyes not leaving her face. She shuddered and he cleared his throat.
"It was no worry at all, good night, Ms. Lupin." He turned and swept away, leaving her staring after him with wide eyes before she muttered Remus' password and vanished into his rooms.
SSHG
"May I ask you a question, Professor?" Hermione flicked her eyes up from cutting grubs and glanced to the dark clad Professor, he was staring intently down at a stack of ungraded papers.
"Any you desire, Ms. Lupin." He kept his eyes on the paper.
"Have you ever suspected you lived another life? I mean, as in before this one?" His eyes shot up to her so fast she worried he would make himself dizzy. Dark eyes focused intently on her face and she turned back to her cutting, her lip subconsciously caught between her teeth.
"Why do you ask such a question?" His voice was low enough she barely heard him and she shrugged her shoulders gently, eyes still averted.
"I just, I guess I have Deja vu at times, and then, there are the dreams?" She hadn't meant for it to sound like a question, but she supposed she'd just have to roll with it.
This was the first time she'd felt comfortable enough to even begin discussing the matter and it was strange to her it was in her first session as Snape's apprentice.
While she sliced grubs down their centers no less.
Severus tried to swallow around the lump that was forming in his throat. Could she remember something? Even the smallest memory would be enough to give him hope.
"Dreams, I assume they are similar to those that drew you from your bed so late at night last week?" He fought the desire to walk across the room and take the witch in his arms.
He'd scare her to death!
Get yourself under control, man! He scolded himself when amber eyes pulled up to meet his face and locked on him.
"Yes, like that. I feel like a part of me is missing- too…" She trailed, her eyes somewhere far off and his chest constricted.
"I'm sorry, I know this sounds ridiculous!" Hermione blushed and went back to her cutting, flustered at her own admission.
He just seemed so attentive, as if he heard everything she said and it made her want to speak to him. To have him listen to her.
She was almost certain the dreams she had weren't helping things. No, not at all.
"It is far from ridiculous, Ms. Lupin, have you spoken about this with anyone else, Sirius or Remus? The Potters even?" He had those dark eyes still locked on her, still reading her and she shook her head shyly, her eyes averted.
"I don't want everyone to know I've been crazy my entire life." She gave a bitter laugh, Severus' heart skipped a beat.
"What do these dreams entail, Ms. Lupin?" He cocked an eyebrow. Hermione flushed bright red, she could feel it crawling down her throat to her chest.
"I need to go to dinner!" She exclaimed suddenly, she stood like lightning had struck her and cleaned her mess in record time.
Severus watched with that same eyebrow cocked until she was out of the room and her footsteps were fading down the hall.
How very interesting.
SSHG
"Can't you do that elsewhere?" Hermione snipped over dinner, where Ronald Weasley currently had his tongue down Lavender Brown's throat.
"Jealous 'Mi, I'm enough man for everyone." He smirked and waggled his brows as he broke away from the other witch and Hermione pulled a disgusted face and cocked an eyebrow.
"You can't be serious."
"Of course he isn't, who would want to snog you." Draco chimed just before he emitted an annoyed 'ow'. Harry had smacked him on the back of the head.
"I see you've decided to begin your week over." Dumbledore tsked from behind both boys who tensed and made faces at one another.
"We were getting along!" Harry complained.
"Right, we're great mates now!" Draco exclaimed, going so far as to put his arms around Harry's shoulders. Dumbledore cocked an eyebrow and gave a smile from beneath his large beard.
"That remains to be seen, my boys, but do keep trying." He walked off, Hermione could have sworn there was a skip in the old wizard's step.
"All your fault, Potter." Draco muttered, Hermione rolled her eyes and glanced around. Ginny and Rose were in detention, apparently the pair had decided to pull a Fred and George, and had placed a very annoying singing jinx on Flitwick's charm books. While impressed he'd been happy to give them the detention they deserved for being caught out.
She finished her dinner quickly, the desire not to listen to Draco and Harry bicker, or watch Ron and Lavender snog making the decision to leave the table early easier for her. She found herself walking by the lake, her stomach as satisfied as it would be and her mind wandering over the events of the past several days.
She hadn't expected to find a pair of figures by the lake talking, it hadn't occurred to her that anyone would be out and about at a time most were eating.
Quietly she crept, trying to edge around the pair who seemed to be in a heated discussion. Alas, she was not as quiet as she'd hoped to be and two pairs of eyes flicked to her, one a stormy grey that looked surprisingly like those of Draco Malfoy, and the other a deep green that burned right into the pit of her stomach.
Her knees locked as she stared at the two, the man with long blonde hair smirked.
"Little girls shouldn't wander about at night." Her breath caught in her throat, her fingers twitched to take her wand in hand. She felt threatened, incredibly so. She knew Lucius Malfoy by description alone, she could only imagine his companion was another unsavory character.
"What are you doing here?" She managed to bite out, her voice surprisingly even.
"Tsk, tsk." The Malfoy patriarch gave a wicked smile and Hermione backed up a step, her eyes locked on the men. They hadn't pulled their wands yet and she took that for a good sign.
"Shall I kill her?" The other man, the one with the piercing eyes hissed and Hermione felt her blood freeze, the weight of her current predicament crashed down over her.
As if by instinct she had her wand in hand, the arm extended before her with a quiet confidence she was almost certain she didn't possess.
"You'll do no such thing." She managed proudly, shoulders squared, she took another step back.
"I would have to agree with Ms. Lupin." The voice behind her washed relief down her spine and she might have sagged to the ground in relief if she weren't still faced with two very dangerous men.
"Severus." Malfoy hissed, his eyes locked on the figure that stood behind her, towering.
"You have no business here, Lucius, you should be going." He bit, Hermione wondered if his eyes flashed the way they did when he was threatening a student. His chest met her back, his hand coming up to meet her arm and pulling the wand hand down. She shook under his hand, unsure what was happening but knowing not to argue.
His wand arm was extended to her other side, his figure tall over her as he held her arm with a firm but gentle grip in his free hand.
"You know this isn't over, Severus. You are still welcome, my friend." The blonde man exhaled, voice smooth as silk, seductive and entirely fake. Hermione could feel, more than hear the Professor behind her clear his throat.
"You know my decision, take your filthy acquaintance and be gone, before we are joined by more." His wand was still trained, despite the seemingly friendly conversation between the men and Hermione felt herself relax back into his chest, the panic that had been coursing through her fading as the wizards stared one another down.
"Come along, Lex."
"I would have preferred to kill her, she looks like a mudblood." Snape let out a low growl behind her and a strange warmth spread through her lower stomach. Her breath hitched.
"You will never lay a hand on her." He sneered, his tone dark- dangerous, the two men vanished into the darkness on the other side of the lake, walking with their faces toward the pair until they were far enough to be out of sight.
Hermione swallowed, her stomach balled into knots of confusion.
Snape spun her, eyes on her face, his wand was stowed and suddenly his hands were everywhere, her face, her shoulders, her hips, his eyes tracing her.
"They haven't hurt you, have they?" Hermione was dumbfounded, she could only stare for a moment before coherent thought seemed to come to her, his hands were clutching either side of her face.
"No." She managed to breathe, she shivered, suddenly cold. "Can we go inside now?"
"Of course, of course." He exhaled, tossed the excess fabric of his cloak over her shoulders and walked her inside, certain to keep her pace.
Her mind was racing a mile a minute. Exactly what was happening?