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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
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Chapter 20. The Less You Expect, The More You Will Be Pleased.

Hermione woke Monday morning still feeling as if she had been run over by a herd of Hippogriffs. Her body ached, her throat felt as if she had swallowed a bag of ice mice and there was a chill running through her body that Hermione knew for sure meant she was ill.

It had taken all her strength to get dressed and walk up to the hospital wing for some pepper-up or any potion that would make her feel as if she hadn�t spent so much time in the rain on Saturday.

She had to lean on the wall outside the infirmary to catch her breath before she could push open the door and shuffle herself in. Berating herself for not coming to the Infirmary on Saturday night when she first started to feel ill.

It was still early in the morning but already the sun had started blazing through the high windows of the sickbay. Hermione passed under a warm shadow and let the heat of the sun waif over her before giving in to a great bone-racking sneeze, which made her slightly dizzy afterwards.

"Bless you," said a hoarse and tired voice from the corner.

She turned to see a young Remus lying on a cot near the wall. His face bore long scratches and his eyes looked sunken in.

"Thank you." said Hermione politely, surreptitiously trying to wipe her nose with a small handkerchief.

"You look a little under the weather," he said shyly.

Hermione nodded, "I had hoped Madame Pomfrey could give me something without making me stay for a physical."

Remus let out a small laugh, "She takes her job very seriously. I know I�ve been treated to more physicals in the last six years than I�d care to remember." he smiled, but Hermione noticed it did not seem to reach his eyes.

"I hardly ever get sick, I think this," she gestured to her swollen nose and watery eyes, "is from the awful weather I foolishly let myself parade around in this weekend."

"Yes, the weather was exceptionally foul." he said quietly.

An uneasy silence fell between them.

"Well, I better see if Pomfrey can fix me up before class." she said, her voice a little hurried.

Remus nodded as Hermione walked lightly towards Pomfrey�s office door, careful not to jostle her throbbing head.

She rapped twice on the hard door, before she heard the scuffling of a chair and the sound of footsteps coming toward the door.

"Yes, Miss Granger?" asked Madame Pomfrey, a little surly.

"I�m sorry to bother you so early. I�ve got a terrible headache and what seems to be the beginnings of the flu. I think some pepper-up will fix me right up. I really don�t want to have to miss classes today." She finished with a smile.

Pomfrey narrowed her eyes, "Are you a trained Mediwitch, Miss Granger?"

Hermione shook her head, "No, Madame..."

"Then why don�t we let a skilled, professional decide if you have the flu, and do indeed need medication?" she said waspishly glancing pointedly at Hermione�s Slytherin uniform as she walked out into where the cots were and where Remus was lying in bed.

"Mr. Lupin, are you feeling better?" said the witch with a sweet soft voice.

Hermione�s head throbbed, painfully. What had happened to the Madame Pomfrey she had always known? The one who had always made such a fuss over her and well everyone she knew?

However, to be fair, she never doted on Draco, when he was hurt, Hermione shook her head slowly, well he was such a spoiled brat and anyway half the time he was faking. Hermione watched Pomfrey bustle around Lupin. True when Montague had been finally found in the vanishing cabinet there had not been much of a to-do. Hermione�s brow furrowed before she quickly let her face go slack for the ache in her head. Was it because she was a Slytherin?

"I�m fine Madame Pomfrey," said Lupin "Just a little tired." He smiled, before glancing at Hermione.

Madame Pomfrey gave him a sympathetic smile before gently patting him on the arm. She turned from him and glanced at Hermione her smile gone.

"On the cot, if you please." she said, pointing at a cot under a long beam of sunlight.

Hermione slowly shuffled her feet to the bed and gingerly perched on it, squinting against the harsh rays of light that beamed in her face, making her head ache with pain.

Madame Pomfrey waved her wand over Hermione clucking her tongue when her wand tip turned different colours as it passed over Hermione�s head and chest.

"I suspect you hadn�t the sense to keep out of the rain? The whole lot of you are nothing but trouble," she said huffily under her breath.

Hermione bristled at the Mediwitch�s comments.

"Pardon?" said Hermione, her eyes narrowing.

Madame Pomfrey put her hand on her hip. "I want no back talk. So just sit still and let me do my job," she said, putting her wand back up her sleeve and turning to a medicine cabinet. She pulled out three different vials, before turning back toward Hermione.

"A decongestant, Pepper-up, and one for your headache." she said, handing them to Hermione. "Drink them all quickly and I won�t have to write you a pass." She said, giving Hermione a look as if the only reason she was there was because in fact she was trying to skive off class.

Hermione drank them all hastily trying to keep her anger in check.

Madame Pomfrey collected the empty vials from Hermione and headed toward her office, grumbling about sneaky Slytherins and what Hermione could have sworn was "Poor James." Hermione shook her head, aware that James Potter had his smarmy grip around everyone in this school.

She stood up feeling much improved. Her headache had lessened and the throbbing pressure had eased up from inside her chest. Hermione walked pass Lupin�s bed noticing his eyes were closed and his head was nodding to one side. He looked much more bedraggled when he slept, as if he were ten years older than she knew he was.

Hermione sighed, thinking of the Remus Lupin of her own time, and how bravely he had fought. She crept quietly toward the door before his voice stopped her.

"I�m sorry." he said, his voice full of regret and sleepiness.

Hermione snapped back towards him. "For what?" she said.

"For not trying to stop what happens to him," he said.

"Severus?" Hermione asked.

Lupin nodded. "I�m glad he�s found a friend in you." He looked away from her toward the wall before saying very slowly, "I should have said something to them long ago."

"Why didn�t you?" Hermione asked curiously, despite herself.

Lupin shrugged, "I chose their friendship over what was right."

"You mean you chose what was easier?" said Hermione shaking her head.

Remus looked at her solemnly, before nodding. "I know it means nothing after everything that�s happened, but please, tell him I�m sorry."

Hermione stared at him for several seconds, comparing the Lupin who had died bravely protecting the battling student to this Remus who seemed shy and insecure. "That�s something you�ll have to tell him." she said, then strode from the room.

~~~~~~~~~

Severus sat in the Great Hall eating breakfast between sidelong glances toward the doors, willing Hermione to walk through them. He had yet to see her since Saturday afternoon and her disappearance was beginning to worry him. He had been angry at first, thinking she had been hiding from him, out of embarrassment or disgust, but those feelings faded into apprehension and concern the moment he walked into the Great Hall and had not seen her face.

Terrible thoughts ran through his mind, mostly all involving her being hurt by the hands of Potter and Black in some dark hallway with no way to get help. Classes would start in ten minutes and if she did not show up, he would scour the whole of Hogwarts in search of her. Severus sneered, and woe to her if he found her and she was not hurt.

His head jerked up when he saw a shadow pass by the table.

Hermione sat opposite him quickly filling her plate with eggs and toast before the food disappeared back to the kitchens. Severus noticed she had little colour to her cheeks and brow looked shinny with sweat.

"Are you ill?" he asked, more venom seeping into his voice then he had intended.

Hermione looked to him startled, a slice of toast poised in front of her mouth.

"I�ve been feeling dreadful since Saturday night, but I�ve just come from the infirmary so it�s not nearly as bad as it was." she said, smiling and taking a ravenous bite of toast.

Severus exhaled with relief, she was not avoiding him, was not annoyed or disgusted. His belly tightened as he ducked his head toward the table stirring his porridge, thinking about Saturday night. He shot her a glance from under the curtain of his hair, thankful that its length hid him well enough not to be caught staring at her. Her hair was tucked up in a messy half bun and as she ate, her cheeks started to fill with colour.

"Hermione?" he asked willing his voice to keep from shaking.

She looked up at him.

"Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?" he asked, terribly aware of how foolish he sounded, and mentally kicking himself for even opening his mouth.

Hermione stared at him and Severus wished he could Obliviate her and pretend nothing happened. Merlin, what if she said no? His heart thudded, what if she said yes?

"I didn�t know there was a Hogsmeade trip this weekend," she said hoping to stall. Her mind filling with the fact that very possibly Severus Snape had just asked her out on a date.

"It was on the notice board this morning," he said softly his feet shifting under him restlessly, thinking that it might be wise to just stand up and run right out of the Great Hall.

Hermione felt her stomach clinch; this most definitely fell under interfering, definitely!

She looked at him and his hopeful, yet doubtful appearance. Hermione felt that this moment would forever change the way he behaved around her, fully aware that he would not open himself up like this again if she said no.

"Yes, I�d love to." she said, swallowing back the apprehension she felt.

Severus nodded, shaking his hair in front of his face to hide the small grin that emerged from his lips.

"Are you through?" he asked hoisting his bag onto his shoulder.

Hermione nodded, popping the last of her breakfast into her mouth and lifting her own bag over her head. As she followed him out of the hall, neither one of them was aware of the four sets of eyes watching them walk away.
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This Is The Way The World Ends.