Chapter 37: Embittered Reflection

{A/N: Here's another update...R.I.P. Alan Rickman}

My Thanks To My Readers and Reviewers...Enjoy-S.S.

{"There comes a time in a man's life...Where he must take responsibility...For the choices he has made...And there are certain things that he must do...Things that he must say...Like I love you...And I need you...I only want you...And nobody's going to know if it's true, ooh...I never thought I'd feel this kind of hesitation (to put)...My hand on another girl...I wish I didn't have to lie...I wish I could let you know...'Cause I love you...And I need you...I only want you...And nobody's going to know if it's true..."}Valerie, The Weeknd

Unknown Pub, Knockturn Alley, Wizarding World...

Thick clouds of smoke filled the hazed room cramped with seedy patrons as Severus Snape sat in the furthest and albeit darkest corner of the establishment, nursing his sixth glass of firewhiskey. His so called wife had been quite aggravating in her attempts to pretend like their union was for any other reason aside from practicality. Still despite his best efforts to suppress his rather surprising attachment to the silly little chit, he couldn't bring himself to deny that she held his attention better than most of the women he'd been with in the past and she had little experience. He'd been quite annoyed by her petty attempt to antagonize him in the form of her decision to give him an apparent "silent treatment" in the wake of their latest clash. She'd refused to speak to him, directly or otherwise for close to a month. In the beginning he'd been all for it, the silence in class saw to her no longer interrupting his lessons and allowed for him to call on other students that otherwise gave up on demonstrating their intellect while in class with the likes of Hermione Granger about.

It appeared that the usually mouthy little chit seemed to have gotten it into her mind that ignoring his presence would be the best route to whatever she'd been attempting and it only served to aggravate The Potions Professor all the more. The late hours of the night had done little to quell the fostered aggravation of the rather testy wizard and the drink only fueled his disdain in terms of the actions the young witch had taken to make her point, whatever it might have been. All he knew was that he had not liked it in the least and at once he set off to ensure she knew it.

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The Grounds, Hogwarts Castle, Wizarding World...

Hermione had been well on her way back to Gryffindor tower following the latest trip to the library to do some quiet reading given all the noise in the common room. She'd only been half way there when something came flying toward her at speeds she couldn't fathom and nearly knocked her to the ground in the attempted landing. The books she carried tucked into her arms and close to her chest had been thrown every which way and she nearly landed on her back before leaning forward and catching her balance. When the apparent dust of flapping parchment and flying books settled, Hermione found herself face to face with her illustrious drunken Slytherin Professor husband.

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she quickly set about gathering the books still not wishing to speak with the insensitive git despite the clashing. Snape however wasn't going to be denied as he quickly seized the young witch and pulled her into a nearby alcove.

"You truly believe that you are some how clever for this idiocy." he said in an embittered tone.

Hermione once more restrained her response, much to the Potions Professor's chagrin. However, he had known her all too well to let her have the moral superiority in this exchange.

"I do believe you are out past curfew Mrs. Snape... an offense that results in one misbehaving student to being awarded a detention." he said not at all adverse to being smug in this situation.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at the drunken wizard before her. There was no way she was going to serve a detention because he couldn't get passed his hurt feelings when it came to her not wishing to engage him due to his foul behavior.

"What do you think...?" said the drunken wizard still glaring at her, "Two weeks should suffice for such a blatant disregard for the rules."

Snape noted the flicker of annoyance that danced behind the young witch's amber eyed gaze. He had her, hook line and sinker and she was much too stuck on being wronged to notice it.

"I wouldn't have missed curfew if a certain drunken wizard had been watching where he was going..." she said before she could catch herself.

"Are you speak to me?" he asked with an arched brow. "One could hardly recall what that annoying voice of yours sounded like for weeks and now I am reminded of why I detest it."

Hermione had been about three seconds from hexing him outright when he suddenly scooped her into his arms, crushing his pale lips into hers as he caught sight of another student in Slytherin robes passing by them.

Try as she might, Hermione had no way of pushing down her feelings as her drunken husband did his best to conceal her presence within the outside corridor. It had not taken her long to note that the student whom had passed was the child of known death eaters and subsequently reported back matters that had not been his concern to his parents.

Snape continued to hold the young witch close knowing all too well that the dark lord would hear of his latest encounter with his young wife from the mouth of the boy himself. He'd done everything to appear the model death eater within the ranks of the depraved but the despot remained suspicious of him indefinitely.

The Potions Master stepped away from her once the boy had gone his way and she looked up at him with a most unreadable expression. He had wondered what had been going through her mind up until he spotted the slick crimson that had been along her hand. Hermione's eyes widened as she turned her attention to the blood and then back to the drunken wizard once more.

"S-Severus?" she said caught off guard via the moment.

Snape said nothing before collapsing onto the cold hard ground leaving a fretful Hermione to scramble to get him some assistance.