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The New Life	By : lilith395 Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 14590 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Harry Potter and I don't earn anything from these stories.

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... And then some

“Right,” she murmurs, and reoccupies the armchair. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

I frown a little, but otherwise keep silent. I believe I have said everything I needed on the subject. I wait patiently for her to get over the immense shock that I actually thought of someone else before myself and to form her next question. It takes her a few minutes.

“Okay” She says after a while, staring straight into my eyes. “Tell me about the Bake-Neko.”

I knew it was coming, and yet, I still don’t know what to say to her.

“I’m not sure it’s mine to tell”

She frowns at me. “I don’t think I care.”

Right. I shift a little in my seat, leaning forward to place my elbows on my knees, and stare into the cold fire in the hearth.

“Of course you don’t.”

“Fine, just tell me why you called a shape-shifting cat Melissa?”

“Same story, Granger, same story. I think there is a small part which I can tell you, but I’m not entirely sure. It might be enough to turn her against me.”

I’m still not looking at her, still staring into the flickering bluish flames. This is just the kind of thing I wished to avoid. One of those stories I would rather not think about, nor relive for that matter.

“Okay” she says, and from the corner of my eye I can see her leaning in a little. “Then humor me, and tell me, why did you say I was yours?”

The question makes me snort, actually relieving a little of the tension which had been building up between my shoulder-blades, and I lean back into the comfortable chair once more. I can’t keep the smile off my face nor the question off my lips.

“Does that one sentence bother you that much, professor?”

For a moment, I think she might get angry, which would have diverted her from the Japan-issue nicely, but she regains her composure faster than I could’ve imagined, the only sign of her discomfort being the remarkable shade of scarlet on her cheeks, a particular shade I have before now only seen on a member of the Weasley family.

“Just answer the bloody question.” she bites out, and I smirk at her before my expression becomes serious once more, as it so often does when thinking about Melissa. I try to avoid it as much as possible, but sometimes, just sometimes, that beautiful, laughing face of the girl I once knew pops into my mind and it’s torture. Just another child I was unable to save, with one difference. Her face still haunts me every year, when I go to visit that blasted catlike being which has taken her place.

“She once promised me she would never hurt anything of mine ever again. Claiming you as mine assured you safe passage through her home.”

“But aren’t these creatures supposed to be benign?”

I look up from my hands and meet her honey eyes.

“That might be the norm, but no two creatures are the same, you know that better than most, Hermione.”

“Tell me the story, please.”

“There is not much I can say. There is both good and evil in every creature, and some are unfortunate enough to meet the wrong sort. That was the case with Melissa.”

“What happened to the real girl?”

“The same thing that always happens with young people making rash decisions and stupid mistakes, she paid for it dearly. A shame too, she was a very talented young witch.”

I fix her with a stare which tells her in no uncertain terms that is the last she will get from me on the subject. I am not here to confess all of my sins and mistakes to her, and I will not let her try to get them from me. She seems to understand it perfectly.

Another round of silence. She sits on the edge of her seat, thinking over what I just told her and contemplating the next question to ask. For a moment I wonder when she is going to bring up Aleéna, but I’m sure she’ll get there before long.

“What are we doing in Egypt?”

The question earns her another stare. I told her this already, I even took the time to make her an itinerary.

“We need the tears of an Egyptian God named Bennu” I tell her.

“How are we going to get those?”

I sigh. Does she really have nothing better to ask?

“Buy them, of course. Why else would there be markets?” I say sarcastically, though I mean it, they are for sale at the market, if one only knows where to look.

She huffs a little, but bites back the retort I can see just waiting to spill from her lips.

“Fine” She sighs. “Tell me about the woman in the mirror”

Settling back into the chair a little further, making myself comfortable, I take a moment to align my thoughts. Once I determine where to start, I tell her. I tell her about the Auloniad, the theoretical knowledge I have about the nymphs, about my encounters with them in the past and the understanding I had with them. I tell her about the effect they have on men, the way they treat the woman who venture near their territory, and about the magical properties of the hairs we need from them. It takes a while to explain everything.

Glancing at the digital clock on the nightstand, I realize just how long we have been sitting here. Only an hour until the market opens. If we don’t get there early, there won’t be anything to get.

“We will have to leave in 30 minutes if we want to make it to the market in time.” I say, and though she nods absently, I am not entirely convinced she heard me. I get up and start rummaging around the room, getting the things I need to get what I want from the market. Somewhere during packing a small backpack, I realize she hasn’t spoken yet and when I turn to face her, she is staring at me, wide-eyed.

“What?” I bite out. I must’ve, once again, done something to startle her, but I don’t know what and don’t really care either.

“I’ve been thinking” she says, and I groan.

“Do you ever stop?” she smiles at my remark, and I turn back around to return to packing the backpack.

“No, I suppose I don’t. But that’s not really the point is it? I mean, you have brought me along on this trip, which is, essentially, to replenish my own stores back home, not just yours. It’s something you have been doing on your own for years, and you have never needed help before have you?”

I shrug, counting out the galleons I have just dumped on the bedspread. I’m only listening to half of what she’s saying, and realize my mistake too late to rectify it. When I do, my back stiffens and I can feel my breath hitch. She’s on to me.

“You have been training me to take over, haven’t you? You are, aren’t you?”

Her voice sounds too close to me to still come from the chair on the other side of the room and when I whirl around, I meet her eyes only inches away from mine.

“You’re done, aren’t you? Done with the traveling around and putting yourself in danger to get a few measly little hairs or nails? I’m right, aren’t I?”

Her voice has gone shrill with the possibility of having my motives figured out. She has, damn it, but I am at the moment less concerned with that than I am with the fact that she is standing only inches away from me, bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement, looking remarkable like the child she used to be. Grasping her shoulders lightly, I move her back a few paces so I can pass her and busy myself with packing a light lunch and shoving the backpack into her arms.

I look into her big eyes, staring at me, waiting impatiently for me to answer, I try to come up with some snide remark, some come back which will shut her up, and I draw a complete blank. I settle for a sneer, before turning around and moving towards the door.

“Oh, shut up.”

With a small squeal, she comes running after me to keep up with my stride as I move down the corridor towards the elevators. I regret taking her on this trip. I believe I regret it more than I ever regretted becoming a Death Eater. Broadening her horizons and releasing this horror onto the world might actually be the most evil thing I have ever done.

A/N: thanks for reading, please review
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The New Life