Title: To Love Another
Card Name: Bonfire
Square #: G
Square #: 2
Link:
Line Y/N?: (Down, Across, Diagonal) N
Blackout Y/N? N
Your team: Team Vampire
Prompt: Mutual Pining
Summary: He's not good enough for her, and she's not Lily Evans. It's a recipe for failure if only in their own minds.
Beta Love: Dragon and the Lovable/Puntable Furball, Dutchgirl01 the Perpetually Busy, Flyby Commander Shepard the Budgie Trainer in Chief
To Love Another
By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
Richard Dawkins
It was painful to be in the hauntingly familiar position of being not good enough yet again. Lily had always made it quite clear that he didn't measure up to her standards.
Professor Granger swayed her classes in a way that he never could. It had taken her a while to take to teaching, but once she found her feet, there was simply no stopping her.
He didn't even entertain the thought of courting her.
He knew he wasn't good enough. No one wanted a Death Eater at their side—even an ex and forgiven one.
But her mere presence was such torture.
She was brilliant and full of life, compassionate—
So many things that Lily hadn't been, so if Lily couldn't forgive him, how did he even stand a chance with Granger when she'd turned down so many other suitors flat on their bums?
He admitted seeing Weasley's jaw gawping like a fish out of water had been worth it in so many ways. He just wished—he dreamed—of what it would be like to hold her in his arms and have her be his.
She smiled at him as she saw him staring down at her from his office.
It was nothing, he knew. She smiled at everyone.
Mere politeness, nothing more.
It was all it would ever be.
Hermione kept teaching her class out on the lawn, hiding her sadness as the headmaster turned his back on her and retreated into his office.
She kept hoping that he'd notice that she was interested.
Maybe, just maybe, she would be good enough to at least humour an attempt at a relationship outside of a professional sense. He knew she turned down any and all suitors, but he had no idea the reason.
Or if he did, he wasn't even entertaining her as an option.
Of course he wouldn't.
Harry had made it perfectly clear to everyone that the reason the man had done all that he had done was due to the love he'd always had for his mum.
As if the age gap itself wasn't a big enough hurdle.
Despite the fact she was now in her thirties, single, and not interested in being impregnated by a certain rampaging redhead, all around idiot, social climber, Ministry entitled, skirt-chaser, or whatever else came her way.
There were a lot of all of the above trying desperately to get into her knickers.
No thank you.
Hagrid kept trying to push her towards Ron whenever he came to visit with Harry. Harry kept pressing her as well because he wanted her to live the dream with him, but her dream was not his dream, and he had already ruined her dreams by drunkenly telling her all about what he'd seen in that Pensieve.
And Ron—
No.
Just—NO!
A single kiss in a moment of celebration had told her all she needed to know about him. He was convinced that he owned her. That she belonged to him. That they were "meant."
No.
One kiss did not endear her to him. If anything, it told her precisely what she didn't want.
She was unsure why he was so bound and determined to pressure her into marriage. It wasn't like he didn't have loads of adoring witches who would be thrilled to have him.
When Ron had kissed her, there was no golden rush of magic, a feeling of rightness, or even a banal sense of arousal. Nothing. It had been wet, sloppy, thoroughly unpleasant and not over soon enough.
No, instead, she wanted the forbidden fruit. The untouchable. The man who still loved Harry's mum.
And she—
She was so pathetic for wanting what she could never have. Never rate. Never be so pretty and commanding and perfect like the late Lily Evans Potter.
The very scent of him as he walked past her in the halls made all of her senses tingle. Sweet woodsmoke and fresh parchment, India ink and wet stone after a rain.
He had such beautiful, elegant hands and an even more powerful voice—soft yet resonant. A delicious rumble that seemed like the purr of a great cat.
He spoke so rarely unless he had to, and she would have been happy if he just read her the dictionary or even the Ministry directory.
What would it feel like to have his arms around her? To feel completely safe for the first time in her life?
Nothing else would have the ability to tame that fear she'd held ever since she'd gone on the run with Harry and Ron.
He knew the Dark and the light.
She knew he could face anything.
No one else could possibly understand.
Pathetic.
Just a stupid, stupid girl.
She wanted what she could never have.
She would never be good enough to catch the eye of a wizard like him, and Ron—
She wanted him about as much as she wanted a Bludger to smack her in the face.
She continued to teach, but every day that passed just killed something deep inside her.
She cast a spell to keep her students' spells from hitting a random passer-by, frowning at them as they all seemed to be situationally unaware. War had taught her such things made you dead very quickly. A part of her was glad they never had to face it, but another was concerned for their well-being in real life.
Still—just because it was war didn't mean there weren't people out there willing to cast Dark spells at each other for whatever reason.
Life continued on, but Hermione often wondered if she'd ever really start living. Perhaps, that was a gift for this next generation.
Not for her.
Severus overheard the all-too-familiar voices coming from the general direction of Hagrid's hut, and he frowned.
It wasn't at all unusual for Hagrid to host Potter and Weasley, and they were often loud and obnoxious on the weekends, laughing together around a bonfire as they recalled the "good times" or whatever ridiculous Ministry drama was amusing them at the moment.
But this time, he heard Granger's raised voice in the mix, and he automatically tuned in, walking closer.
"I can't believe you, Ronald!" Hermione huffed as she stormed up the path. "We are not "meant." Why the hell would you tell Hagrid that we're getting married?"
"Come on, 'Mione, you've led me on long enough! It's time you settled down like a proper witch!"
"I've never once led you on, Ronald, not once," Hermione snapped over her shoulder as she fled from the hut. "You have your witches gathering around you in throngs, all of them willing and eager to accommodate you. Go pick one of them to settle down with. Someone who would be more than glad to have you. Someone you've already had children with."
"It's not the same, yeah!" Ron yelled after her. "It's what's expected, innit? Mum is over the moon and already planning the perfect wedding. It will be even bigger and better than 'arry and Ginny's!"
Hermione whirled on him, her eyes blazing. "Ron I'm not going to—"
"Imperio!"
Ron's expression was utterly victorious for just a few seconds as a wall of velvety black unfolded from Hermione's form. A cloak of thick "cloth" with rows upon rows of sharp, grinding teeth. It moved slowly and inexorably, like it was blowing in the wind, but it defied gravity, moving against it. Those teeth clacked together like nails on a chalkboard, and an aura of Dark malevolence crashed down upon the horrified wizard even without a physical touch.
"YOU BLOODY WANKER!" Hermione yelled furiously, as a chain of spells came out of her in such rapid succession that it sounded like a different language. Ron's body went rigid, turned into a fat farm hog, and was subsequently hog-tied, secured to a roasting spit with a giant apple shoved between his jaws, and teleported over to Hagrid's massive fire pit.
Hermione trembled with rage, her magic flaring about her body as a sizzling electrical storm. Her curls seemed to thicken, moving against the air in writhing motions as those strands converged into a nest of serpents.
Magic arched and snapped. Her eyes glowed a bright gold, and a beaming arch of magic shot from her eyes, turning everything in her line of sight to pure marble.
Arms folded around her as she was pulled into the warmth and scents she longed for. Dark, soothing magic surrounded her, and her hissing nest of angry vipers settled as she went limp, sobbing into the soft, dark warmth.
"I've got you," his voice whispered against her ear. "He won't ever hurt you again. You stopped him. You're safe now."
"Why didn't he ever listen?" she sobbed. "Why couldn't he just let me be?"
"Ronald Weasley has never been known for wisdom, most especially in love decisions," Severus murmured against her hair, his hand against her head. Her vipers curled around his fingers lovingly, tongues flicking in pleasure. "And he always listens to his delusional mother, which is unquestionably worse with regard to making love decisions."
Hermione choked out a laugh, her hands clawing to grasp his black woollen robes. She revelled in the feel of his arms wrapped around her. "Could you give me a few minutes to enjoy this feeling before I have to face the truth again?"
"Sweet girl," he murmured into her serpents. "What truth would you prefer to face?" His arms tightened around her, pressing her closer. He took in her scent where her curls and snakes began.
"That you'll never be able to care for me," Hermione whispered. "Just for now, I need the dream to cope with the fact that my friend just tried to Imperio me and I turned him into a swine."
Severus let out a slow ragged breath. "How could you possibly think I wouldn't want you?"
Hermione stilled against him, she looked up at him, and with a creeping awareness, she realised two things, perhaps three.
One, he looked her direct in the eyes, and they were the most beautiful shimmering hints of rainbow obsidian. He wasn't turning to stone.
Two, his tortured expression exposed just a hint of fangs. He was as human as she was, which was most definitely only barely. He was a vampire. A real one. Not just a rumour. Not just—a child's imagination.
And lastly, she saw the glisten of a tear that trailed down from his eye and cheek. It was tinged pink and then it saturated into blood.
"You're—"
"A monster, yes," Severus replied, his eyes full of sorrow. "It was Albus' backup plan in case the Dark Lord tried to kill me before my tasks were done."
"So perfect," Hermione completed what she was originally saying.
Severus' eyes widened.
"Are you mad?" He swallowed a laugh. "Have you seen this face?"
"I'm looking at you and you haven't turned to stone."
He gaped at her, his mouth opened slightly in a hiss.
"Seeing as my experience with Gorgons is lacking," he said. "What does that mean?"
Hermione's expression changed. A downward tug of lips mixed with a grimace. "It means you are capable of being my mate. Immune to my gaze and venom. But you needn't worry. I know you are not interested in me. I could never be—her."
"And thank the gods for that!" Severus exclaimed, his face twisted in vehemence. "She was an ideal my teenage stupid self clung to because my life was a rubbish fire. I had nothing else to dream of—to even hope for, and then she was gone."
"And then I was a Dark Wizard, unforgivable, unclean—and I sold my life to Albus's Dumbledore to save her fool life, but she trusted the wrong people. Pettigrew did what she thought I would, and they died."
"And then I was Albus' lap dog all the way until the night he bade me murder him," Severus said. "Even then he held me to oaths that bound me until the dark lord died."
Hermione abruptly hugged him tightly. "Dumbledore was a manipulative arsemonger!"
Severus choked on a cry of both pain and ecstasy, wrapping his body around her like the living shroud that had saved her from Ron's Imperio.
"I've wanted you more than was proper since you arrived to teach here, you gorgeous girl," he muttered into her vipers.
"But I'm a Gorgon," Hermione whispered into his buttons.
"I did notice," he said with a chuckle. "I'm a vampire. Hardly typical suitor material."
"Maybe I find that super attractive," Hermione said, her fingers tracing his button line.
Severus stilled.
"Lying causes me to break out with sea kraits," Hermione said.
Severus eyed the cluster of sea snakes on one side of her head with frank suspicion. They looked at him cutely, tongue flicking.
"One when you asked what happened in the lavatory, the rest when anyone asked who I fancied." She sighed. "I said I didn't but who I really fancied was you."
The striped sea kraits tongue-flicked in agreement.
Severus frowned. "All of them?"
"I was asked—a lot." Hermione grimaced.
"You can—conceal them?" Severus asked. "Or is it a glamour?"
Hermione pulled her collar and exposed what looked like embedded gems in her sternum. "Permanent concealing aura—but—" She trailed off.
"Not when your life is in danger?" Severus asked.
"I can consciously keep it up even if I'm in danger—but if I'm not expecting it, yes," Hermione answered. "Madam Bones said it would never interfere with my body's natural responses to protect itself when I wasn't consciously there to tell it otherwise."
"Wise woman," Severus said approvingly. "Respectable." He tilted his head. "Have you always—"
Hermione shook her head. "My parents thought I'd been born snakeless—scaleless and snakeless. Then I was accepted into Hogwarts and they thought, well, at least she'll have magic. Then I was petrified by a basilisk, and it triggered some sort of biological awakening. I sprouted vipers."
Her head snakes all turned to him, headbobbing.
"Madam Pomfrey took me to Madam Bones right away, and that was when they put the enchantments here—" her fingers tapped the gems. "I suppose they are also DoM registration numbers and such. So I am not considered a rogue Gorgon."
"Did Albus know?"
Hermione smirked. "Doubtful. Do you really think he'd have allowed his golden boys to be near a certifiable XXXXX Gorgon with a propensity to stone things that annoyed her?"
"I bow to your self-control," Severus said. "And I am suddenly glad that I was a vampire before I insulted your teeth."
Hermione snorted. "I took out my aggression with my fist to Malfoy's face."
Severus scoffed. "That was you? He never confessed who it was that punched him. He put Crabbe and Goyle under an Oath not to say."
Hermione smiled sadly. "Are you reconsidering your interest?" she said. "I wouldn't blame you if MMPH—"
Severus' searing kiss as his arms wrapped around her like an enamoured octopus as he Apparated them both to his private chambers was the only answer he gave her.
A few minutes later, there was a magical nova starting from the Headmaster's office, and all the things that had been stoned earlier returned to normal.
Hermione snuggled drowsily against Severus' chest as they heard the sounds of partying out on the green.
"We don't have to be there, do we?"
Severus wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer. "No. Let them have their fun without the infamous dungeon bat swooping down upon them from his belfry. I just found my lifemate who I'd never believed would willingly bind herself to my sorry arse for eternity, and I'm feeling magnanimous enough to allow them their frivolity."
Hermione tilted her head to the side. "You just like my blood."
"Hn," Severus purred. "That and more."
He descended upon her with a feral look of mischief, his fangs exposed as he pulled the ever-dutiful Walter around them both just before Hermione's muffled shriek of pleasure reached the wide-eyed portraits.
"'Bout time," Phineas said with satisfaction as he walked into the back of his frame as Albus hastily fled his frame for parts unknown. "I believe the modern term is fuck you, Albus!" Phineas sneered at Albus' retreating backside.
When Hermione, dressed loosely in one of Severus' spare robes, walked with him to Black Lake, Hagrid waved at them from the dock and almost lost the fish he was gathering to carry back up the path.
"You two missed one 'ellava hog roast, 'eadmaster, 'ermione," he bellowed. "There was so much hog, we invited all of Hogsmeade to share!"
Severus furrowed his brows. "I'll live, I'm sure. I'm feeling rather satisfied today, thank you."
Hermione flushed, burying her face into his side in almost-mortification as Severus' smile was utterly smug and masculine.
"You'll have to have one for yer wedding, yeah, 'ermione?" Hagrid said. "Ron tole me his mam was going to make a big feast. She liked the roast so much, she said she'd make sure to have one for yer weddin' too."
"I'm already happily mated," Hermione said, deadpan. "Thoroughly. Debauched. Spoilt for life. I fear no one else will ever measure up to my mate in skill or—prowess." She shot Severus a look, and his answering expression was pure malevolent satisfaction.
"Oh!" Hagrid said, shaking his head. "So he did convince you last night. I knew he would!" he bellowed gleefully. "I'm sure Molly will forgive you since you finally saw reason! We can have the reception after the fact!"
Hermione's face twisted in confusion. "Do you even hear words?"
Hagrid babbled obliviously to himself, trudging back towards his hut saying, "'arry will be happy. He was worried when Ron didn't show up fer the feast. Not like him. I'll let him know. Hah!"
Hermione stared at Hagrid's retreating back as though it might, blissfully, turn him to stone out of principle, but her headsnakes peeked out from her curls with curious expressions and tongue flicks. "He's not right."
"Never was," Severus said with a put upon sigh. "Most well meaning idiot in the world."
Hermione's eyes widened suddenly. "HAGRID!"
"WHUT?" Hagrid asked, turning.
"What feast?" Hermione yelled.
"The fattest old hog you ever did see!" Hagrid bellowed in answer. "Centaurs left it over my fire. Feasted on it all weekend!"
The half-giant trundled out of view as Hermione's pale face grew even paler until it resembled white marble.
"It's a good thing I drink blood," Severus said, deadpan as he caught his swooning mate in his arms. "Probably just as good that you do, too."
Hermione's headsnakes did their best duelling Ouroboros impressions.
"I have to go file an incident report with Amelia," Hermione moaned into her mate's chest.
"Best report ever," Severus said with a wicked smile.
Deep within the bowels of the DoM, the booming laughter of one highly amused greater dragonbat shook the walls of the Department of Mysteries as Amelia Bones pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation.
"What. An. Idiot," she muttered to herself as she signed and stamped the DoM paperwork before sending it off to be filed.
She shook her head and pointed her finger at Hermione. "You. Take your mate and go off on a honeymoon somewhere obscure and Weasley free for a month or so while we clean this sodding mess up. You're totally in the clear, the memories are already certified—but we'll probably have to pull Molly down from the cliff. I'll have Poppy cover for your sudden departures since it's the end of the school year anyway."
"Might be better to let nature run its course," Severus suggested with puckered lips.
"What we want and what is legal are two different things," Amelia said. "Now, go. She threw a pair of Portkey passes at them.
"Moorea, French Polynesia?" Severus asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You would prefer Antarctica?" Amelia enquired drolly.
Severus flailed his hand. "No, thank you, Madam Bones."
"I'll send word when you two can unlose yourselves," Amelia said.
Severus bowed his head as he quickly herded his mate out the door. Better to take the gift for what it was than stick around and have Amelia decide on some other sort of solution to her problems—like giving them both jobs.
Manfred Morgan stuck his huge head into the door after they left, his breath smelling of mango.
"I told you that brain-tank boy was going to end up being eaten by something one day."
"I hate you so much," Amelia said.
"Aye," he said with a masculine curl of his lips over his pointed teeth. "That's why you mated me."
Amelia chucked a mango at his head.
Molly Weasley Admitted to St Mungos' Janus Thickey Ward In Persistent Catatonic State!
Couples That Attended Infamous Hog Roast All Inexplicably Fall Pregnant, Even The Ones Supposedly Infertile!
Chicken Shortage As Pregnant Witches Experience Intense Craving For BBQ Chicken Wings During Pregnancy!
Hogwarts Welcomes New Students As Professor Hermione Snape Teaches "Care of Dark and Dangerous Creatures" For Third Years With Great Academic Standing
(Photograph of children excitedly playing with a clutch of adorable babyfolds while Dementors serve tea and biscuits)
Professor Rubeus Hagrid Loses Leg After Breaking Into Dragon Paddock at Hogwarts During Faculty Staff Meeting
Dragon Not Held Accountable For Attack on Rubeus Hagrid After Discovery of Shattered Locks
"The dragon is exceptionally well behaved for a Hebridean Black," dragon preserve specialist Tristan Scalehock noted. "He defended himself and didn't leave the enclosure after the attack. If anything, it proves that he considers this place his home and has the desire to defend it. You can't fault a dragon for doing what dragons do. You can only fault the person who foolishly enters their territory thinking they can do better and then gets hurt."
(Photograph of students oiling Hebridean dragon that is laying on his back and exposing his belly for attention as Professor Hermione Snape oversees scene)
Adorable Litters of Hellpuppies and Hellkittens Displayed By Guest Speaker From Undead Nation
Historic First Open Collaboration Between Hogwarts and the Undead Nation
(Photograph of adorable cuteness in spades as students cuddle playful pups and kittens as their much larger parents lay attentively at Ambassador Sanguini's feet)
"It is a true honour to visit Hogwarts and explain our culture to the youth of the Wizarding World," Ambassador Sanguini said with a smile. "We are not all doom and gloom in the Undead Nation. We do not live in a giant graveyard. We look forward to many more such collaborations in the future."
"Me?" Sanguini asked, his tongue sliding across his teeth. "Teach Care of Magical Creatures?"
"You'd be teaching in conjunction with Hermione in a joint class of Care of Magical Creatures and Dark and Dangerous Creatures."
"Is this because of the half-giant losing his leg?"
"Mostly," Severus allowed. "He finally did something justifying his removal under the many protective clauses Albus put in place after Umbridge."
"It would be a high profile first for us—" Sanguini mused. "A vampire teacher at Hogwarts. Well—a known one. His lips pursed with amusement.
Sanguini chuckled. "I think you both know that I cannot afford to let such a grand opportunity pass the Nation by. In defiance, if anything, of the old traditions that barred us from normal jobs."
Hermione's headsnakes stared at Sanguini with tongue-flicking interest.
"See something you like?" the vampire asked, his eyes bright.
Hermione flushed and stared down at her paperwork with a vengeance.
Sanguini chuckled. He picked up the quill and signed his name on the contract. "I look forward to a long, prosperous partnership," Sanguini said. "And whatever else the future may hold for us."
And they lived smugly ever after…
