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Who Are They Now? COMPLETE	By : Snapes_Slave Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 9101 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I own no part of the Harry Potter universe, That honor lies solely with Madame Rowling herself, nor do I own any part of Funny Girl or its music. I make no money from this story.

Chapter List
- 10
- 11
- 12
DISCLAIMER: "I don't own this... I also make no money from this stuff..." to the tune of you don't own me... I know it's a short one, but it really was tough to write...

The next morning, Hermione woke alone. It was the first time since they had started sleeping together and she found herself reaching out for his comforting warmth, only to feel bereft and hollow. In a flash, the evenings events came back as a rush of sudden emotions. She had been content, then scared, then heartbroken, before feeling terror and finally anguish and emptiness. He had left. He had seen the scars, then left. She mentally tried to calm herself. It was a big thing to take in, and Hermione's behavior hadn't helped to lessen the suspense on seeing her scars. He merely needed time to process everything. Yeah, that's it.
But when an hour had gone by without word from Severus, she began to doubt. She decided to take a long bath, thinking that perhaps he would show up and join her, to no avail. She had cleaned her kitchen top to bottom, organized her entire book collection, tidied up in the lab and cataloged a list of all her ingredients, and still she remained alone in the house.
Hermione couldn't stop remembering all the good times they had had. It had only been about a month that they were together, but she had lived so much more in that one month than she had in the last 10 years without him. She remembered bringing him to dinner with her friends and how accepting they had all been. He had laughed with them, joked, he had outright bragged about how talented she was and how her performances took his breath away. Ginny and Luna had swooned. Hell, Hermione had swooned.
As the hours drew in to late afternoon, Hermione realized that not only had he stood her up for their morning plans, but she had to leave for their late rehearsal without him. She was torn between worry and gut deep sorrow.
Give him a chance to explain. He was probably busy with some last minute things and didn't have time to let me know. No sense in being upset by it. She told herself.
But when she arrived for rehearsal and he was already there, looking cool and casual as usual, she felt herself nearly give in to the melancholy mood creeping its way over her day like a dark shadowy rain cloud. His eyes scanned over her vaguely, showing a small amount of disgusted indifference, before continuing to glance around the room, awaiting further direction.
Rehearsal hadn't seen her best performance. It wasn't helpful that the bulk of what they were doing was fine tuning staging and scene changes. Simon told everyone that the full orchestra would be arriving the next week, which left Hermione with only 3 more days before Severus was no longer needed. Three more days and she may not see him again. She approached him when Simon had dismissed them for the night. As he gathered his sheet music, she pulled her messenger bag across her chest and tried to address the elephant in the room.
"So, have you decided to be done with me? You saw the scars and now you can't bring yourself to even look at me anymore?" Her voice sounded to be on the edge of tears. He raised his head and shook it as if coming out of a fog.
"Not at all, love. I'm sorry for how I've acted. I don't know what came over me, but I feel most odd. It's like someone is inside my head telling me to be the exact opposite of how I want to be with you." His face blatantly displayed his confusion. "I tried to come to you this morning, but something kept holding me back. I think it has something to do with the curse."
"Severus don't lie to me. I know how they look. I know I'm repulsive and I don't much care for hearing you lie to me about it. You're disgusted by me. Just be a man and admit it and we can both move on." She said, turning abruptly and walking quickly towards the exit.
Severus jumped from the piano bench, picking up his bag haphazardly as papers fell out. He left them there, uncaring, as he rushed after her. As short as her legs were, she had beaten him to the apparation point. He was certain that her house would be heavily warded against him, should he attempt to gain access, so he spun in place and arrived on his own porch. He went over everything that had happened since he had seen the marks. Every odd detail stood out sharply; from the zap of magic on his lips, to his confusion, to the voice in his head controlling his actions and words. He was positive that he was not responsible for his behaviors, but weather she was being influenced by the curse or not, he knew she wouldn't be willing to accept his excuse.
As well she shouldn't. I was a right git to her. After all she's been through and everything we've done together, she should, by all rights, just toss me out on my arse.
He spent the first hour at his home mentally scolding himself, before something started creeping around at the corners of his mind. The merest hints of information that he vaguely recalled of a curse from an obscure book that he remembered reading ages ago. He knew it was his answer, but for the life of him, he could not think of what the book was, nor the name of the curse.

As Severus began pouring over the most ambiguous and arcane books of his collection, Hermione decided to throw herself a pity party. She threw on her most comfortable sweat pants that had long ago faded from a dark heather grey to almost white, and a thin light pink vest of the softest warn out cotton she owned. She settled on her couch with a pint of chocolate brownie ice cream and put one of her favorite movies on the telly. Her fireplace went green and she ignored it. She wasn't particularly feeling like having company. But after 3 more attempts, she knew they would be coming through any moment.
Just as Vivienne accidentally tossed a snail across the restaurant in Pretty Woman, her fireplace bloomed green for the fifth time and Ginny, Luna and Draco entered her living room.
"Oh, bugger." Ginny said softly.
"What's happened, love?" Luna said, gently taking the spot next to her on the sofa and tucking her legs underneath her. Hermione turned her face up to look at her friends, tears brimming but being held back. Draco sat next to her and pulled the ice cream from her hand.
"'Mione. This is no way to behave. What has my godfather done and how can we fix it? You'll do no one any good ballooning up a size or three by eating all this sugar." He told her mock sternly.
"He's revolted by me." She fairly whispered, one single tear falling from her lashes. "I had a nightmare last night. He heard me and came over to help and calm me down, then he saw them."
"It can't be all that bad. What happened." Ginny asked, sitting on Hermione's coffee table directly in front of her.
"He pretty much bolted. We were supposed to spend the morning together before our late rehearsal, but he never showed. He ignored me the whole day at work and when I asked him about it, he just started spouting this nonsense about how he was so sorry, but that there was this voice in his head telling him to be an arse. He actually tried to blame it on the curse." By the end, she was sobbing into Draco's chest grabbing big handfuls of his tailored Armani shirt. He ran his hand over her arm, trying to calm her, as he looked to his other female companions.
"Perhaps it wasn't nonsense." Luna said lazily. She looked off into space before continuing.
"We know your scars are cursed somehow as they haven't healed, but as you and he started to grow closer, they got better. But maybe now he's seen them, the curse really is making him act differently?"
"Actually, yeah. That really makes sense. It sounds vaguely familiar to me, but I've no idea. It really could be true, love. Don't start hating him yet." Ginny said. Hermione sniffled indelicately before reclaiming her ice cream.
"Well, just the same, I'd like to enjoy the rest of my pity party." She snuggled deeper into the couch.
"Would you like some company?" Ginny asked.
"As long as you'll be supportive of my wallowing, then yes. Otherwise, I'd like to be alone." Hermione said.
"Well, I'm in. I bloody love this movie! And we're almost to my favorite part!" Draco said. Ginny turned to face him in disbelief.
"You not only know what movie this is, you like it?"
"Yes, miss priss, I do. I love it when they go shopping and she goes back to the first place and rubs it in. Bloody brilliant." He said smugly.
"Well, if you're staying, go get more ice cream from the ice box. Mine is almost gone." Hermione said with a small shy smile on her face.
Once Ginny had returned from the kitchen with a pint for each of them and a comically large bowl of popcorn, they all settled in and watched the rest of the movie.

HGSSHGSSHGSSHGSSHGSS

The next three days were torture. Hermione went through fazes of deep depression when he was rude or ignoring her, but every time he seemed to snap out of it and tried to apologize, it was as if something came over her and made her lash out at him. She had stopped sleeping almost completely, her nightmares coming back with a vengeance, her scars had started to regress as well, and judging by the bags under his eyes, Severus wasn't fairing much better. The last day was the worst.
It was a full run through of the show. Hermione was managing well with costume changes and hitting the proper marks on set, Severus was playing remarkably well. Both of their eyes would light up when she was singing, but the moment the song ended, the brightness would pass and give way to despair. At the end of rehearsal Simon assembled the company to say a few words.
"Well all, it has been a lot of work to get here. I do believe we have a hit on our hands, but only time will tell. Tomorrow we begin the process of pre-show rituals. Full costumes, full show, full orchestra. We'll be doing 2 straight runs of the show each day and we'll fine tune anything that needs work. In just 2 more weeks, we open. I know you'll all do me proud. I'd like us all to give a big round of applause to our rehearsal pianist mister Severus Snape for being such a big help in our time of need. He was most gracious to help us out at the last minute and we wouldn't be ready to continue at the rate we are if he hadn't come along." Everyone clapped. Hermione joined in, looking sadly to her lap as one tear managed to escape her eye. She quickly brushed it away.
"Let's not lose our focus. Keep working hard and be sure to rest up, because before long, we'll all be performing for sold out crowds. Now go home, get some sleep, and come ready to perform!" He said. Everyone gathered their things, heading for the back auditorium doors to leave. Severus turned to the door, catching Hermione's eye.
"Hermione... I just wanted to say... Break a leg. I know you'll be amazing up there." He said genuinely, his eyes sad but full of warmth.
"Thank you... It was a pleasure working with you, Severus." She said softly, not quite meeting his eyes. She turned and left the theater without looking back. They had said their final good-byes. It would seem that it was truly over.

A/N
HARRYGINNY4EVA- I love getting your reviews. They always make me happy, which is a big deal if I'm at work! So how close do you think your guesses are so far? All will be revealed soon, I promise!
DRAGON'SMISTRESS- Appreciate the review! I'm glad you seem to be enjoying it. I wanted it to be a bit ambiguous but the curse will be explained soon and I hope it lives up to the hype.
SIMPLYSUBMISSIVE- *eek!* I seriously love it when people say they get bummed out by running out of chapters!! I'm glad you're feeling my vibes on the story. I hope this section wasn't too much of a downer, but it will likely get a bit worse before it gets better...

I know it was short guys, but I hope to get the next chappie out tomorrow. I won't be the happy stuff we all want to see, but just remember, I don't do sad endings. Nt for these two. They need a bit of happiness in their lives. Then again, don't we all?
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Who Are They Now? *COMPLETE*

Who Are They Now? COMPLETE