Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

This Is The Way The World Ends.	By : tulipsaside Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 7312 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
Chapter 13. All of Life Is Chance and Is Sweetest at A Glance.
Dumbledore stopped Hermione the next morning outside the Great Hall.

"Miss Granger, how are you feeling?"

Hermione smiled, "Much better, just a little sore, sir"

He led her off to the side of doors to make way for the students to go through.

"Miss Granger, I am sorry I didn�t get to speak with you last night, but could you please explain to me how you came to be injured." He smiled at her warmly.

"I came around the corner, a little too quickly, on my way to your office, when I accidentally collided with Severus. My leg is delicate even at the best of times and it gave out on me. I fell back and smacked my head against the stone." She gave him a contented smile. "Surely Severus explained this to you last night."

The Headmaster smiled faintly, "He has, though I wanted to verify his version with your own."

Hermione gritted her teeth. She wanted to reach up and strangle Dumbledore. Verify his version! The favouritism was sickening. What about Black, what about Potter? She wanted to scream. How come you haven�t asked them what happened? Why not ever verify their versions? She breathed in through her nose trying to calm herself. Finally she spoke, trying to keep her face passive.

"Then I�m sure you agree that if not for Severus� quick thinking, I would have certainly bled to death."

"For certain, but Miss Granger please, do not draw offence. It is not my intention to imply that Severus was in any way, liable," he said peering over his glasses at her. �I had only wanted to make sure that no one else was involved. I am sure, by now, you have noticed the animosity between Severus, James Potter and Sirius Black. Their disagreements can sometimes get out of hand, pulling in innocent bystanders, if you will, but as you said, it was only an accident."

Hermione nodded.

"Well, Miss Granger I shall let you adjourn to breakfast with the reminder that if you are still interested we can rearrange our previous appointment for Wednesday evening, say right after dinner?"

"Of course, Headmaster." she said sweetly watching Dumbledore head up to the staff table for breakfast.

With a shaky breath, she heaved herself into the dining hall limping to the closest chair at her table. She looked at the food around her, feeling suddenly sick to her stomach. Was it like this at Hogwarts in her own time, the Headmaster turning a blind eye when it came to Harry, Ron and her? "Of course it was," she told herself. All those times sneaking out the castle, going into out of bounds areas, leaving the school entirely. Her face coloured slightly, even luring a teacher into the forbidden forest and having an angry herd of Centaurs attack her. No wonder Professor Snape hated them. It was the favouritism and preferential treatment of Dumbledore�s Gryffindors all over again. Her stomach rolled over and she pushed her plate away from her.

"How are you feeling?" Severus said quietly sitting down across from Hermione.

"Cured," she said smiling at him.

"Then why are you not eating?" he asked, gesturing to her plate of food.

Hermione sighed, "Because, I�m ashamed of myself," she whispered.

Severus raised his eyebrows so high they almost disappeared into his hairline.

She gave a half-hearted laugh, "Dumbledore wanted me to tell him what had happened last night, seemed to think your adaptation was lacking." she sneered, "I wish I had just told him the truth. About how rotten and dreadful Potter and Black were to you, how they always are to you." she finished, her hair falling in her face.

"I�m certainly glad you didn�t, then." he said, inclining his head to her.

Her mouth fell open. "Don�t you want them to treat you better?"

He rolled his eyes. "What I want is to not be expelled."

"This is about your pride, isn�t it?" she asked.

"It�s nothing to do with anything except disregarding them until I can do something about it." He pulled out a book, opening it in the middle and began to read.

"Revenge?" she said, her voice taking on a higher pitch.

He peered at her over his book, "If it comes to that."

Hermione looked like she wanted to argue her point more but decided it was not the type of conversation to have with him. She picked up her fork shuffling eggs from one side of her plate to the other, furtively glancing at Severus.

"Sickle for your thoughts?" she finally asked, setting her fork down.

"I�m reading," he drawled emphasizing the syllables in the word reading.

"Yes, well it might look like you�re reading but unless the author of that book writes in a minute script, you�ve been reading the same page for the last ten minutes."

He glowered at her from behind his curtain of hair.

"If your set on being nosey, then I might as well stop reading," he said sullenly, closing his book and stowing it back in his bag.

Hermione gave him her best, (you-can�t-fool-me-so-you-better-not-try) looks.

Severus watched her quietly for several moments, making her highly uncomfortable and silently wishing he had just kept reading.

"Your brother said something to me last night in the hospital room that didn�t quite add up," he said folding his arms in front of his chest and resting his elbows on the table.

"Oh?" she said, glancing down at her plate and trying to think of the quickest means of escape.

"Yes, he felt the need to apologize for all the irritation Black and Potter have caused."

She looked at him quickly.

"Which wouldn�t have been a major cause of concern, given his relations to you and your tenacity for apologizing for things you had no hand in doing," his voice was calm and composed, though he kept his relentless gaze fixed on her as he spoke.

"It was the way he apologized, almost as if he wasn�t speaking in the present tense," he said, tilting his head slowly to the left. "Any idea what he could mean by it?"

She was going to kill Harry Potter, she thought, no better yet she would throttle him first then kill him.

"Haven�t the slightest idea," she said, shifting her eyes down to her plate and taking a bite of her stone cold eggs. She forced herself to swallow them before smiling at Severus.

He seemed to nod, barely the tiniest movement of his head. "Do you want help walking down to Potions?" he said, pulling his bag onto his shoulder and swinging his legs out from under the bench.

"No, I can manage," she said reaching for her own bag. "I put a lightening charm on my bag so it�s not as heavy."

This time he did nod before turning from her. She put a hand out to stop him.

"I wouldn�t mind the company though." she gave him a small and embarrassed smile.

It seemed like he was thawing out, from just a second before when he looked as if he was ready to stride off ahead of her, rigid and aloof.

They walked side by side for a few moments heading toward the dungeons before he handed her a glass jar.

"It�s an essence of murlap salve; it should help with any stiffness you might have in your knee." He had not looked at her when he said any of this; in fact, he kept his head turned from her, most likely to hide the two small smudges of pink high on his cheeks.

She opened the jar and a soothing scent engulfed her, "You�ve put something else in here as well," she said looking up at him as she replaced the jar.

This time his face teemed with embarrassment, "It�s Gotu kola

to help with scarring."

A smile broke out across her face. "That was very thoughtful."

He coughed before asking, "It was a slicing hex that injured you?"

Hermione nodded, feeling uncomfortable again with such a delicate topic of discussion.

Severus opened his mouth again to speak before a shoulder careened in between him and Hermione. Severus stumbled a few steps before standing straight again. Hermione, however was bent double clutching her knee the salve Severus gave her broken on the floor.

Severus stepped close. "Are you all right?" he asked kindly, while bending down to her.

"It�s still a bit sore. I�m sorry, I didn�t mean to drop the jar," she said trying to rub out the ache in her leg.

"No matter, I will get you more later," he said softly, waving his wand over the broken glass. The jar repaired itself but the murlap was gone.

She heard a snort to the right of her.

"So when�s the wedding, Snivellus?" taunted James, while Black stood behind him with a smug and triumphant look on his face.

Severus went for his wand, still bent down next to Hermione.

"Don�t, Severus," she said looking at him square in the face.

He seemed to steel himself before standing up and turning his back on Potter and helping Hermione up to steady herself.

Hermione held onto Severus� hand for a moment getting her bearings before taking a small step toward James.

"I�ll only tell you once," she said quietly, looking from James to Sirius. "Leave him alone."

Black snickered and James let out a loud laugh, "You�re going to let a girl..."

Smack! Hermione�s hand connected with James� nose sending his head back with such a force he landed on the floor.

Professor Slughorn bristled out into the hallway opening the door for class.

"What on earth happened to you, my boy?" he asked staring at James laying on the floor his hands over his nose.

Black stepped forward angrily, his face purple with rage.

Hermione quickly sidestepped in front of him smiling as she said, "He tripped, sir."

Sirius stopped and gaped at Hermione, she raised her eyebrows daring him to contradict her.

He gritted his teeth reaching down to help James up. Other students had seemed to show up now, standing on the tip of their toes to get a better view.

"Is this true, James?" Slughorn asked.

James looked from Hermione to Severus before nodding, "Yeb, sir it ib tru."

Hermione bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. Severus seemed to be having a difficult time as well; his mouth ticked once before he placed on a look of indifference. He stood next to her placing his hand under her elbow for support.

"I�ll take James to the hospital wing, Professor," said Sirius.

"Yes, that�s fine, everyone else inside, please." Slughorn moved back into the classroom as the other students followed him in.

Sirius glared at Severus and Hermione as he helped James up the stairs. Severus looked at Hermione out from under his eyelashes, his face lit up in a triumphant smile. "That was brilliant."

Hermione could not hold her laughter in anymore, she let out a great big snort before breaking down into giggles as Severus helped her into class.
- 13
- 14
- 15
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

This Is The Way The World Ends.