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The Morning After	By : Queeny Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 58917 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
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
- 28
- 29
- 30
Chapter 29 � Unspinning Deception

Author: Queen Celestia

Disclaimer: No owning Harry Potter
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Harry, had evaded all of Snape�s tactics of getting his hands on the Half Blood Prince�s book.

Despite the warnings, and scowls that Hermione gave concerning the book, Harry held onto the book as if it were a long lost friend. No one had taught him so well in potions, not even Snape.
There was no way now that he would surrender the book up, especially with the school year drawing to a close.

His eyes searched the Mauraders Map, searching out Draco, despite Hermione�s disbelieving snorts, and Ron�s quietly held cynicism, he was certain that Draco was up to something and that he had become a Death Eater.

Draco wasn�t on the map.. wait. There he was in a boys washroom with�. Moaning Myrtle? He remembered her mentioning a boy that cried in the washrooms a lot, her smug look of fake compassion etching the incident into his mind. A decision was but a moment, before he hurried off towards Draco�s form.

What met his eyes, was one he was certainly not prepared for.

Draco stood above a sink, hair falling into his face that was red and swollen from crying. Myrtle hovered soothingly nearby, affection for the other dismal soul clearly apparent. He suddenly felt as if he were intruding on one of those moments, where he was most definitely not needed, and decided to leave him. Attempting to escape without notice, his action caused Draco to catch site of him in the mirror, and before anyone could say a word both wands were drawn, Draco steady, despite his past tears, aiming his wand at his sworn enemy. Hexes flew from each others wands, smashing a sink so that water spurt out all round them, Dracos eyes narrowed his mouth forming the words Cruci- while Harry, trusting in his friend the Prince, uttered the spell reserved for enemies.
It happened so quickly, with the blood seeping from deep gashes across Draco, that Harry panicked, as he shouted for help, while trying to stave the bleeding from his enemy.

Myrtles voice rang out of the washroom, "MURDER! MURDER IN THE WASHROOM."

Before a disheveled vicious looking Snape arrived upon the scene, his voice quickly saying the counter enchantment, the words flowing into a sing song quality.

Cradling Dracos body to his, Snapes black eyes seemed to cut into Harrys, the horror of the situation evident all around them.

"Stay here Mr Potter," He hissed, before carrying Draco out of the washroom his haste clearly evident.

It did not occur to Harry to not obey, it felt as if he had gone numb, with Myrtle sobbing in the background.

Moments, that seemed like small eternities passed, before Snape entered. His black eyes shot upon the sobbing ghost with some distaste, and Myrtle, taking a hint, shot off down one of the toilets, a stream of water following her departure.

His eyes then focused upon Harry. Mouth quirking into a smirk his voice seemed like a heavy silk jacket, as he mocked, "Who would have thought a Gryffindor would know such Dark Magic?"

Harry pulled his gaze away from Snapes, his stomach roiling with guilt.

"Look at me Mr Potter! Now where would you have found such a dark spell? In the library perhaps?" Harry found himself unwillingly looking at his Professor, and knowing what was about to happen, tried in vain to throw up the walls of his mind, except he never was that good at it. Much against his wishes, the pages of the Half Blood Prince floated to the forefront, and when Snape broke the connection, knew that he was fucked.
"So tell me, where DID you learn that spell?"

"I-in a library book."

"LIES."

The sudden burst of sound from his Professor, caused Harry to take a startled step back, water splashing against his leg, blood pooling in against his robes.

"I know exactly where you got it Mr Potter, and your Roonil Wazlib edition will not fool me."

"But how.."

"Hermione told me." Snapes nostrils flared, his lips thinning into a straight line. "Now fetch me the real book. NOW."
His legs felt like automatons, as Harry rushed off to obey, a small seed of resentment against Hermione stirring within him, only to be squashed by the overwhelming guilt that she, like in so many situations, had been right.
Desperately, he paced by the Room of Requirement three times, and half scared, turned his eyes to the wall, half afraid, and half wishing for the door not to be there.

It was.

After grabbing the book, he ran back to the scene where it all began, Harry found Snape calmly standing there, and when he caught site of the boy, held out his hand.

Reluctantly Harry placed the book into the Professors waiting hand, who calmly flipped through the book, his face unreadable.

"Well well well, using someone else�s work to pass potions eh?" his voice was snide, his attitude rough.

Harry squirmed on the spot, the small bit of loathing for Hermione building up, how could she actually like this man?

"Mr Potter, you are a liar and a cheat, and if I had not told you that Hermione had told me about you and your Half Blood Prince," he said the name with a sneer, "you would have continued to lie to me. I believe this calls for detention with me every Saturday until the end of the year Mr Potter."
Harry felt the metallic taste of blood on his tongue, his teeth biting hard into his cheeks to prevent his protests.
Severus spoke again, the ice in his voice clearly belying his calm. "Plus one hundred points from Gryffindor�. I would have hardly believed such a heroic Gryffindor to know such dark magic, but then again, I am sure there are many things which I am not aware of."
Harry was too shocked, to realize when Snape had left, that instead of the usual threats of expulsion, which would have been completely justified in the situation, that Snape had not even uttered the word �expel� and he had in a way, got off rather lightly.
He did not consider however, what a sexually frustrated Snape would be like to deal with in one on one in detention.
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Harry had gone and done it, Snape thought as he listened to Madam Pomfreys reassurances that Draco would heal with no scarring.

Had gone and put his foot right into it, he had tried to stop it from happening, but, as usual the boys obstinence had gone and done it. He had felt the power of the Dark Magic a mile away, it�s signature unmistakable, and curious and angry, quickly rushed to see who was doing it, believing that it would most likely be one of his Slytherins up to mischief. He had not expected the Boy Who Lived to be the one using such a dark spell, although since he did have his old potions text, it did make sense� However, he had to clean the situation up, thankful that the only other person with a modicum of sensitivity to Dark Magic was out of the castle. This could all be covered up, without getting himself into any trouble. For of course the blame of his old potions text being in the classroom would be placed on him.

For some reason, after spending so much time with Hermione, his usual loathing for the boy, was not so intense.

It was as if, he was learning to put up with idiots, for Hermione�s sake. He was not sure on why he did not jump upon the chance on expelling the boy, but he did know he had felt a vague unease that expelling the boy now would not be the best choice.

The boy could not even utter an effective Crucio, nevermind an Aveda Kadevra.
Then another thought came in, every Saturday for the rest of the year. DAMN. Why had he chosen that? He liked to sleep in, and since Hermione had passed apparating was looking forward to lazy Saturdays where he could spend all day in bed with her.

Scowling, he entered his classroom, getting ready to prepare for the next class.
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To be honest, there was one highlight, that made the current detention bearable.

While, he would have enjoyed watching the final Quidditch match of the season, he also found much pleasure in supervising Harry in missing it.

With vindictive pleasure, he watched as Harry peeled wormskins, before carefully placing them on a drying tray. He had spent all week coming up with the nastiest chores, and when Hermione, who had caught him smirking to himself, asked what was up, he had only replied that he was thinking up some work.
In fact, he had planned work from 8 in the morning until 8 in the evening. With only a half hour for lunch.

The day crept by slowly, only to have the methodic silence shattered when the door banged open at four o�clock to reveal a flushed Hermione, whose attention, much to Severus annoyance was immediately turned to Harry, who was currently squeezing bobotur pus into small vials.
"HARRY WE WON!" she shrieked, causing him to drop a tray full of vials, they careened to the floor only to be abruptly stopped by some fast wandwork from Severus.
"Madam Snape if you do not insist on disrupting Mr Potters detention, and ruining a vast stock of bobotur pus, I would greatly advise that you remove yourself now." The sentence came out as a long hiss, which Harry was perfectly terrified of.

Hermione, turned a scant glance to her husband before hugging Harry really tightly. "WE WON! GINNY WAS BRILLIANT!"

Warring feelings of elation and �ohmygodsnapeisgoingtokillme� played inside of Harry, and Hermione was only brought to her senses when the loud sound of Snape slamming his hands down upon his desk brought her mind back to the current situation.
"Hermione Jane Snape, need I remind you that your �friend� Mr Potter is still in detention?" His voice had dropped to a deadly level, causing Hermione to immediately release her friend.

"But Professor, he�s been in detention since 8 am, surely it�s over by now?"

Drawing himself up to his full height, Severus cast her a small disdainful look. "No. Four more hours to go."
"WHAT THE- Twelve hours Severus?" Hermione�s face became splotched with red, as she menacingly advanced upon him, the captive audience of Harry clearly forgotten.
He replied by the mutinous look upon his face.
"While I clearly understand the need for detention," here Hermione cast Harry a rather scathing look, "I feel that twelve hours every Saturday turns into more of a punishment for yourself, than just a detention for Harry."
"For your impertinence Madam Snape, I now feel justified in extending his detention until 12 am tonight."
"Wha-" Hermiones hands fisted into tight balls.
"Good day Madam Snape. Have fun." His last phrase seemed to carry the threat that she not have too much fun lest he need to scold her.

Giving Harry an apologetic look, Hermione left, her insides roiling with anger.

It was perhaps this, that caused her to imbibe too freely in the alcoholic festivities that night.
+++++
True to his word, he kept Harry doing menial tasks until ten o�clock at night, but finding that with the news of Gryffindors win that Harry had become immune to everything, decided to stop wasting his day, and let Harry go to the celebrations that were no doubt happening in the Gryffindor Common Room.
Harry fled as if his feet had wings, and upon entering the common room, was greeted by a wall of noise, before joining in on the festivities.
Hermione had freely partaken of the spiked drinks, her face flushed as she teetered over to Harry. "You got out early!"

"Yeah� I guess Snape got bored." Harry was more distracted at the site of Ginny coming towards him her face set with a certain glimmer that he knew he would certainly enjoy later tonight.
"Ohh! I can�t believe he did that!" Hermione groused, taking another sip from her punch.
Ginny, who had been informed already of the situation, cut in, "He�s no Harlequin hero is he?"

"No he isn�t," Hermione grumbled before taking a vague hint from Ginny and tottering off to complain to Ron.

Harrys cares vanished as Ginny effectively got hold of all his attention.
+++++

It was past one in the morning and Hermione still hadn�t returned.

A growing sense of unease seemed to grow in his stomach, and not bothering to question why he was feeling uneasy, went in search of his wife.
His unease died away as he entered the Gryffindor Common room, the party still going on, the younger students already gone to bed, leaving only the drunken older students in states of disarray, and not caring that Snape was there. In fact, most of them thought it was the drink that was producing a vision of Snape, and put it down as a new Weasley product.
Hermione lay passed out on the couch, her head resting on Rons lap, who was pretty sloshed himself, his hand tangled in her hair, his pleasure evident.
Not caring of whether she woke up or not, Severus roughly yanked her away from Ron, before hefting her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
Barely whimpering a protest, Hermione let Severus carry her down to their rooms, not really realizing what was going on.
Plopping her down onto the bed, he hissed as his Dark Mark began to burn.
Thoughts of everything forgotten, he quickly moved to answer the Dark Lords summon.
Thoughts such as the fact that Hermione was too drunk to feel the necklace�s stone pulse cold against her skin, or thoughts that perhaps she would have been safer in the Gryffindor common room, for when Severus was bound to return, he would no doubt be in a very dangerous mood.
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The meeting had not gone well, and after, with his one on one personal confrontation with the Dark Lord, Severus was left with the strong feeling of self loathing he always felt afterwards.

Tossing his clothes aside, he entered the steaming shower, methodically washing all evidence off himself, trying to clear his mind.

He had taken some of his anger for Hermione out on the Dark Lord when they were fucking, although the Dark Lord hardly seemed to notice, in fact he quite enjoyed it.
Although after, the Dark Lord remembered to inquire how it went with impregnating the Mudblood.
His muscles still ached from the rapid shot Cruciatus that he had received when he replied that she was not pregnant.
Before receiving the ultimatum from the Dark Lord himself, that his wife was a free for all, since he proved so inept in impregnating her, and that the only way he could get her off the hook, was by getting her pregnant.
He knew the Dark Lord was playing a power game, and that he had got himself firmly ensconced in it, now, if he did suddenly get her pregnant the Dark Lord would think that he might be fond of her, but then if he didn�t he would be still directly disobeying.

"Oh fuck," he muttered, splashing his face with the hot water. He had really got himself in the knee deep shit this time.
It also didn�t help that he had the uneasy feeling that the Dark Lord had been leading it up to this exact situation for a long time. It seemed like a sneaky plan of his, to question his loyalty, to see if Severus had somehow become compromised.
Upon entering the bedroom, seeing Hermione passed out upon the bed stirred some resentment inside of him, and clenching his fists, quickly vacated the premises.
He found himself in his potions lab, and working to distract himself, checked upon his brew of Felix Felicious.

He had been inspired to brew some, after seeing Slughorn�s specimen, and due to the fact that he had never brewed a batch before, decided if Slughorn could do it, so could he.

The sound of chopping worked to ease his tension, as he lost himself in his work, his mind becoming a blank slate, only concerned about the potion in front of him.

Once he was satisfied with his brew, he moved onto some more basic potions, such as sober up, or headache. Anything to keep him calm and distracted.
It was only until mid morning, that he realized all of his angst had dissipated, and satisfied that all there needed to be done was brewing, went to check on Hermione.
Smug satisfaction overtook him as he saw a rather bleary Hermione sitting up in bed, holding her head and looking as if a truck had run over her.
"I did tell you not to have too much fun," his level of tone was slightly louder than needed, and Hermione clutched her head in response. "I�m ordering in breakfast, some eggs, bacon, perhaps some spam�"

His taunting was rewarded by witnessing her quick escape into the washroom, followed by the upheaval of her stomach contents.
When leaving the washroom, Hermiones nose was assaulted by the pungent smell of Severus� hearty artery clogging breakfast, and had to run back to the relative safety of the toilet when she noticed he had ordered an exact replica of his meal for her!
Severus watched her with some amusement all morning, waiting for her to beg him for a sober up potion, only to have her seem to forget such a potion existed.

Instead she ended up curled on the couch, pale and disheveled, staring blankly at the wall of books.
By lunch, he was thoroughly bored of her, and in an entirely pure gesture, slipped her some sober up potion. The result was immediate, as colour entered her cheeks, her eyes brightened, and she forced him to order a very large lunch.

++++++++++++
Hermione poked at her food, the day stretching out before her like a dead dog.

Saturday.

Severus and Harry were otherwise occupied, and Ron possibly had a rendezvous with Luna.

Pushing her meal away, unable to eat it, she left the Great Hall only to have a firm hand upon her shoulder.

Turning around, she was warmed by the twinkling stare of the Headmaster, and after a brief �hello�, suddenly found herself in his office.

"Madam Snape, how have you been lately?"

The question, while generic, held much greater concern under.

"I�m alright, nothing untoward has happened," she smiled, willing her figuring hands to stay.

"Ah well, I still regret not knowing the identity of your attacker, but rest assured that we�re doing everything to protect you."

"I know, there�s no need to worry so much."

"Good, I suppose I should get to the nub of why I brought you here," Dumbledore gave her a wry smile, before continuing, "I just wanted to make sure that you were perfectly happy with the arrangements, I trust Severus is treating you well?"

"Yes, we�ve worked out most of our differences�." She paused, not sure on whether to tell him about his summonings, and how she had to leave, or even about the protections he had placed upon her.

"That�s very good to hear," his tone of voice seemed to tell her that he knew what she was thinking, and that no, it wasn�t necessary to tell him. "How goes it in learning to trust Severus?"

His words seemed to swill around in her mind, their earlier conversation coming back.. trust Severus, Why would he use those words specifically?

Looking him in the eye, she took a breath, before replying, "I trust him� although I�m not quite sure that I trust him the way you are implying."

A soft chuckle came from the Headmaster, as he leaned his elbows on his desk. "I fear the trust I want only comes with prolonged amounts of time, something we most definitely do not have." His gaze seemed to focus upward, his eyes seeing something else.

"Oh, then I suppose I trust him as well as I can for the amount of time I�ve spent with him."

"Yes, it�s only what can be expected." Dumbledore frowned, before returning his piercing gaze upon her. "But I still advise you to trust Severus."

From his tone, she realized she had been dismissed.

Giving a "Thankyou Headmaster" she left, her thoughts keeping her occupied until she literally bumped into someone.

"Oh sorry!" she instantly exclaimed, and when she was met with a dreamy, "No worries." She realized she had bumped into Luna.

"Aren�t you with Ron?" Hermione�s face seemed mildly accusing, which only was met by the dreamy smile of Luna.

"Oh, no. Ron�s too young yet for me, it will take another year." Luna gazed serenely out a window.

"What do you mean too young?" Hermione felt her brain gain the annoyed buzz it usually took whenever the dreamy girl was around, and the fact that Ron was older than his object of affection made the situation seem mildly ludicrous.

"Yes. But I suppose you know what I mean, being married to Professor Snape and all."

"Wha- you�re saying Severus is too young?"

Luna gave her a small smile, "Yes, isn�t he? You two are unable to have a truthful discussion. I say that makes you both too young, I suppose."

Luna�s words seemed to be made of soup, in Hermione�s opinion, and after taking a calming breath, she gave her friend [for however much she may annoy her, she was still a friend] a smile.

"You don�t believe me." Luna stated it as if it were fact. "Oh well. I suppose it would take a while yet� now then, I see Ron coming �. Goodbye Hermione."

Luna drifted off into the opposite direction, leaving Hermione to deal with an annoyed Ron.
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Luna�s words kept coming unbidden into Hermione�s mind, and she kept finding herself staring at Severus thinking them over.

In fact, she was staring so much that Severus was beginning to get annoyed.

"Hermione," he lowered his red marking quill, his tone dry, "Is there something on my face that encourages you to stare at me?"

"Oh! No. Just thinking," she gave him a weak smile, before returning to her homework.

His eyes narrowed, "You�re plotting something."

"No I�m not," she scowled, leaning further over her parchment.

With unexpected speed Severus grabbed her parchment from under her quill, his eyes quickly scanning what she wrote.

"Transfiguration?"

"I told you I wasn�t plotting," she grumbled, reaching out for her essay. He held it out of reach, as he continued to read it. "Give me my essay back!"

"No, wait." He frowned as he paused over a line, "Hermione, your theory is wrong."

He could feel her puffing up, her mouth ready to form arguments.

Heading her off, he set the parchment down, while he carefully explained why her theory was wrong. Better safe than sorry in his opinion.

After a stony silence, she reread over her essay, before turning a grumpy conceding look at him.

"Alright, you�re right." She frowned, before pensively tapping her bottom lip with her quill. "Must have been distracted�"

"And you tell me that you aren�t plotting," Severus responded, taking his seat again.

"Hmmmm." She replied as she furiously began her essay on a new scrap of parchment.

With a speed that would have impressed Harold Hornby Fastest Seeker of the Ireland Meadows Quidditch team, Hermione found her papers neatly stacked to her side, and herself zooming across the room to land neatly into Severus� lap.

Squealing, she pushed against him, protesting the manhandling of her person, only to be shushed as he kissed her protesting mouth, giving her new thoughts to think about.

His hands slowly undressed her, her hands reciprocating, carefully unbuttoning his frockcoat.

"I�m still very angry at you," she panted out, giving him a good glare. It was lost completely as he moved to kiss her neck.

"Hmmm." Was his only response.

"You�ve been acting such a pra�oh yes, right there- t lately," she tried to keep her focus, his hands and mouth doing delicious things to her body to cause her anger to begin to ebb away.

"Don�t expect me to change on your account," he rumbled in reply, causing her to feel a surge of unexplainable anger, he could feel it in her stiffening. Pulling away from the delightful amble down her neck, he drew his face up to look into her face. "I thought you would have figured by now I�m not some prince charming coming to save you on his hippogriff."

His words seemed to make her go worse.

"I know that, it�s just, you�ve been so nice lately I thought that.." the expression on his face was priceless. "Severus� exactly why have you been nice?"

Silence.

"You�ll not leave these rooms until you answer me." She frowned, and flicked her wand, the area warding around them in quick succession.

Realizing that sex would not be happening, since she would not settle for anything less than the truth, Severus reverted back to his usual way to deal with things � to be rude and insulting.

"Surely the answer to that is obvious?"

Her eyes narrowed, as Hermione clued in that whatever he was about to say she was NOT going to like. "No, it isn�t Severus."

Leaning back on his chair, his hands let go of her body.

"I prefer a willing partner who responds than one who wants to hex my bollocks off while copulating." Came his blunt reply.

The enormity of it hit her all at once, the expression on her face as if she had run into a brick wall.

"You mean, you�re only nice to me because you want a good shag?" she hissed.

His gesture of acquiescence and look of "yup" negated the need for any verbal reply.

"I don�t believe you." She jutted her chin out, and frowned at him.

Sighing, Severus studied his wife, "And why won�t you believe me?"

During her pause, as she struggled to find the words, she gently ran her fingers along his cheek, watching as he subtly leaned into her touch.

Her answer was soft, "Because you spend too much time looking out for me, for it only to be for a quick shag."

His breath stilled, as he struggled to keep his composure, damn, this woman had weakened him, seen through his comments, yes, she was right; she was different from his mother.

It scared him.

Gently she laid her mouth against his, her kiss soft and inviting, causing him to respond.

Her hands softly entwined into his hair, as she deepened the kiss, her tongue gently stroking his, until they entwined.

Pulling away, she studied his glazed over face, before whispering, "I know something is going to happen, that you can�t tell me but, I trust you."

His eyes snapped to hers, his mouth tried to form words, why would she trust him? Heck, he would have advised Dumbledore not to trust him, so why did she?

Trust him, Severus, to fight for the side of light, where she might have a future, a future without him.

She trusted him to keep to his word.

A small weight seemed to fall onto his shoulders, as he realized, he would do everything in his power to keep her trust.

She was the one good thing in his life, the one thing that helped him realize that perhaps everything wasn�t as bleak as it should be, perhaps there was some hope.

And with a startling insight, he realized that she had given him a purpose, not to say that he hadn�t had a purpose for keeping his skin on while navigating between the two most powerful wizards of the century, deciding on who should win, which house of cards to topple or build, but his purpose had become lost, as he detached himself from the very society he was crafting, a mere scientific endeavor.

Neither side had before had anything that had pulled him so before, to give him a purpose, that would continue. His initial joining with the Dark Lord had a purpose of revenge, but once those who had tormented him so, died, what then? Who would his wrath turn to next? An empty void which he hadn�t noticed before seemed to open up like a vacuum, only to be filled by her.

He could fight for her, her vision of life how it should be. Heck she was fighting for a society that, if she lived, or he lived she wouldn�t even be able to participate in afterwards.

Except, if he did it right, perhaps, she could.

It wouldn�t be his society he was fighting for it would be hers, and suddenly he felt lighter as he realized that the decision had been taken from him, that he would do what he had to do to ensure that she would have her vision fulfilled, never mind that it coincided with Dumbledores vision, never mind that it innately betrayed who he had become deep inside. After forcefully bonding her to him, it was the least he could do.

He would go to hell and back for her, his grip tightened as he landed his mouth to hers, but he couldn�t let her know. Yet.

He would help her, but he couldn�t let her know, because it could put everything he had decided into jeopardy, and knowing what was going to happen soon, he had to stop her from this foolish notion of trusting him, he had to break her away so that she was full of cold hate as she went forward to ensure that her future was secure.

She could have no compassion, no knowledge that he was molding everything that seemed to be happening.

She would need to rely on her friends, but she would need the extra knowledge.

He pulled away, his mouth curled into a sneer, "Believe whatever you want Hermione, but let it be known that I would never trust you farther than I could throw you."

He could read the hurt in her eyes, feel her subtle shift as she pulled away.

"That�s ok," but he could tell that it wasn�t that she was expecting him to trust her as she trusted him.

"And I don�t trust your silly Gryffindor pride to save you from acting in a brash manner that would no doubtedly put me, and all of your friends in danger," he sneered as he said friends, his meaning of their intelligence boldly clear.

A spark in her eyes, as she replied, "Don�t worry Severus, my pride won�t cause anything untoward to happen."

"I doubt it," he slid his arms off of her, let them rest onto the sides of his chair.

His tone brooked no argument, as she sat there glaring at him, trying to think of something in reply.

However, when she did open her mouth to reply, what she asked she had not realized she was going to say, until it hung there in the air between them, like a thick black shard of obsidian, piercing into their lungs surprised that it hadn�t been asked before, yet inwardly knowing that it hadn�t been asked due to fear.

"Why did you bond me?"

He looked at her, his mouth opened and closed, unable to say the reason, the silence stretching on between them, the only indication that he had heard what she had said, by his composure, his struggle to find an answer.

Her face, at first surprised, became fearful and expectant, the hunger for knowledge burning in her eyes.

"Because it was convenient."

His answer did not give what she wanted, as he read the surprised hurt on her features before she so vainly tried to cover up by schooling them.

"Convenient?"

"You were there, wanton, it had been awhile since I had such a willing witch, and while under your cocked up potions influence, followed a logical sequence in which to keep you in my bed."

He could see she was beginning to regret asking the question, as he looked upon her face in a calm manner.

"But one had to be attracted beforehand for the potion to work," she argued.

Had he told her that? He didn�t recall telling her that, so she must have done some research.

"So? If it wasn�t for your potion, nothing would have happened, unless you have failed to notice, I don�t care to indulge in illicit relationships with my pupils."

She pressed her lips together, reminiscent of Minerva, as she stared coldly into his face. "So the reason we�re in this.." here she made a futile gesture with her hands, as if they could define their relationship, "mockery of a marriage, is because of my potion and your desire to have a convenient witch to fuck when you wanted to?"

"Yes Hermione, that�s exactly it."

"But don�t you think we have progressed beyond all of that? Formed a relationship that is more than sex?" her desperation was apparent, and Severus tried hard not to be touched by it.

"Hardly. That is just your fanciful deduction."

"No Severus, I don�t believe you." Her eyes held that determined glint, "After what you�ve shown me," she bit her lower lip, suddenly unsure as she focused upon his face.

Fighting the cold fist clenching his insides, he replied in a bored manner, "A mere practicality so that you would attain some understanding, and therefore learn to live with me without being a nag."

Fingers lightly traced his face, as she stared intently at him, memories of what he showed her drifting back to her, of the closet and the rough man, the woman whose appearance was more abuse than human. He had shown her that so that she wouldn�t be a nag? Hardly likely for someone as private as Severus Snape. But.. the situation on which it had come out� it had turned her heart back towards him, in understanding that this man had no idea how to be a simple human being, to let love just be. He questioned everything, gave it a plausible background which he could understand, and then file away in the vaults of his mind.

Looking into his eyes, she tried to penetrate his defenses, to try to read through the lies, to see the warmth she had seen when he had become unguarded.

Instead, what she saw chilled her to the bone. Cold, lifeless, but definitely telling the truth. If eyes were the windows to the soul, Severus� must have lost his a long time ago, from what she could see. How had she never noticed this before? How his eyes had drawn her in, and made her feel whole, only now, when she so desperately needed them to tell her the truth they shut her out, and told her that what she had saw was most likely what she had emoted onto him, that the warmth and laughter that had once rung throughout them, was something she had imagined, or pretended was there, while ignoring the fact that the entire time nothing warm or good ever reached his eyes, that everything he was saying was true, not caring whether it tore her heart apart or not.

A small thought, that under different circumstances could prove funny, shook her away from his glance, as she stood up, silent.

She had fallen in love with an emotional zombie.
Needless to say, their relations were strained, with only passing formalities said during the day, and sexual frustration mounting in both during the night. She had spent increasing time in the Gryffindor Common room with her friends, avoiding Severus as much as possible, and when Ginny enquired as to what they had fought about, Hermione gave a look so despairing that even Molly Weasley would have backed down.

Hermione wanted warmth, and whenever she saw Severus, she got an indescribable chill, until she wanted to throw on all of her sweaters, and jump into a burning fire until she felt warm again.

So she hid with her friends, whose smiles and love kept her warm, until she went back to their rooms, to slip between cold sheets and turn her back to his back, as she fought against the grief that seemed to overwhelm her.

She had tried snuggling up to him, in a bold manner, only to be holding him, and getting no response.

She missed his arms around her, his leg entwined in hers, she almost wished that the conversation had never taken place, that she had decided to do her homework elsewhere so that they could go back to before.

Currently she was sitting with Ron and Ginny, playing exploding snap, waiting for Harry, who had been summoned by Dumbledore that dinner.

When Harry returned that evening he was excited and pissed off at the same time, a feat which only few could accomplish.

Dumbledore had issued his instructions to Harry, ignoring the words that Harry had told him.

How could he do that? Harry thought, as he rushed through the halls, his blood boiling. Defend Snape! It was his fault that he had been targeted! Trelawneys words echoed around his head, the words getting louder and louder.

How was Dumbledore so sure that he still wasn�t working for Voldemort?

Hermione� Poor Hermione. Married to a murderer, Harrys heart clenched. Hermione, she would try to justify him, for surely Dumbledore trusts him, so she should as well.

No, it didn�t matter that he was the husband of her friend, hell their relationship was shady to begin with. He knew what Snape was and nothing would convince him otherwise.

The portrait of the Fat Lady came into view.

Plus Draco, his woops of laughter.

Why did Dumbledore have to choose this night, of all nights to go looking for a Horcrux? Surely he could feel the worried clenching in his own gut that tonight would not be safe.

He uttered the password, quickly entering the Common Room nearly knocking the Fat Lady aside.

His words tumbled out of his mouth when he saw his friends, before he shoved the Felix into their waiting hands, before, like a puff of smoke, he was gone.

Gone away to hunt down a horcrux.

Hermione was more amused than annoyed, that Harry had assigned her to watch over her husband. Despite their current distance, she was amused at how much Harry still hated him, despite him proving again and again that Harry was wrong.

Old habits die hard, she thought, as she made her way down with Luna.

Luna had given Ron a dreamy look and then quite blatantly ignored him and went along with Hermione.

Although she was not really offended by the company, Hermione kind of wished Ginny had gone with her so that they could have a girl to girl chat about Severus, and not wishing to be in his presence if she could help it decided to camp out in a classroom by their quarters to study. No time like the present to get work done!

Luna sat across from Hermione, dreamily making a bracelet.

"Why don�t we just go to your quarters?" she asked after a while.

"Don�t want to annoy Severus," Hermione absently muttered.

"Oh, yes. No one has been to visit you while you live down here then?"

"Yes."

"Oh, I thought Ron had, but I must have been mistaken."

"No, can�t be. Ron or Severus would have mentioned it." Hermione frowned at Luna from over her book.

Luna replied by a blank smile.

The hours seemed to creep by, the two of them cut off from the happenings upstairs, until a rather harried Flitwick came running down the dungeon corridor, his robes intent on tripping him up.

The two girls were instantly on their guard, as they followed Flitwick, keeping to the shadows.

Snape let him in, and after a few agonizing seconds, Hermione saw Severus leave, his focus entirely upon the girls.

"Hermione, Miss Lovegood, attend to Professor Flitwick� he�s fainted." Snape seemed to look strained, and Hermiones heart seemed to relent in her anger towards him, but she felt her necklace glow warm, and decided to follow his instructions. She could talk to him later.

His hurrying form in the distance disappeared around a corner, as she and Luna, worried, tried everything to help bring Flitwick around.

+++++
He had known this was coming, from how Hermione had �stationed� herself to spy on him with her Ravenclaw friend, to the floo Dumbledore had sent him. He had to act quickly, as he bottled his potions, left the cabinet slightly open, and unwarded some books before innocently moving them enough to catch Hermiones eye. Needed to help, without it looking like help, and he hoped her Gryffindor honor would be squashed enough for her to take what she needed. Opening up a book, he scanned the passage before leaving a cryptic note on the margin, hoping that he wasn�t overestimating her genius. Running sounds caught his attention, and with a small curse realized that it was now or never.

A plan he had no problems with earlier, seemed like a large pain now, but he knew that whatever the matter he didn�t have a choice anymore.
++++++

Hermione felt that she had somehow entered some strange timewarp, where nothing would change, Flitwicks breathing had stabilized, and she and Luna had decided the best thing to do was to wait.

Wait and see.

The clock in Snapes office ticked loudly, the sound of waiting ingraining itself into Hermione�s mind. An unknown fury seemed to be building up inside of her at Luna�s calm detached manner, as if nothing of major importance seemed to be happening right at this moment.

Without any warning, the stone in her necklace grew cold, the feeling seemed to be eating into her skin, and with a cry she tried to yank the necklace off, only to feel it tighten its hold around her neck.

Luna�s hands immediately stilled hers, and lifted the stone from her skin, giving her some relief, the metal chain growing colder from the stones influence.

Panic seized her heart, her hands began to tremble.

What did it mean when it grew cold? Severus had not told her, but if warm meant safe, cold meant�

What was going on up there? Tears pricked the back of her eyes, the panic spreading throughout her, as she looked at Luna, at Flitwick.

"Luna," her mouth felt numb, words were too burdensome to worry through. "We � "

"Should go to the hospital wing," Luna finished. With efficiency that amazed Hermione, Flitwick was floating before them, and without any shame, Luna grabbed some floo and entered the hospital wing, Hermione meekly following.

++++++

Flitwicks words had seared through him like a dagger, and upon seeing her wife with her friend�

Everything came back into focus.

Irrationally he had wanted to say goodbye, tell her that perhaps everything might turn out differently.

Gods he was a mess, as he ran up, dodged spells and finally, his legs feeling like stretched aching lead, made it to the top of the tower.
He knew what he had to do, to fulfill his duty, and protect those who hadn�t already been sullied by their choices.

He was expendable, his choices tainting him beyond anything else. No need to keep Severus happy, no need to perhaps save him from the fate that always seemed to be looming nearer. No need.

Potters presence was hidden on his right, the Death Eaters surrounding Dumbledore as if he were a tasty morsel.

Ah, so he had found the horcrux, things were going to the half schemed plan that Dumbledore seemed so intent on following.

Looking upon that faced that disdained him, didn�t respect him, and used him until finally the whole of the plan of a world of light and peace and fluffy bunny rabbits ruled once again caused his resolve to strengthen.

He wouldn�t be doing this for Dumbledore; he would be doing this for Hermione.

It was frightening how easy it came, to lift his want, utter the spell and watch the most revered man of the time die.

For that was the truth of it, the truth that they were all mortal, and no matter what one may think, be they Dark Lord or Dumbledore, that�s what they were.

Mortal.

Able to die.

To end it all.

Really what was the point of living?

He had to move before they discovered Potter.
He hoped to hell Hermione obeyed and did not enter this fray.

A clench to his stomach, the outside air assaulting his senses more keenly than any hallucinogen, before Potters angry voice seemed to reach him, the hate clear, everything clear.

How could this boy defeat the Dark Lord, when he could so clearly not defeat him?
Spells uttered from the boy, easily blocked, until he heard his spell, everything spinning into that black mass, as he shouted "DO NOT USE MY SPELLS AGAINST ME!" his sense leaving him, as he told the one thing he had never wanted to tell, never wanted them to know, never wanted Hermione to know that the book she so rightly supposed was Dark had been him. That he was dark, nothing what she had made him out to be, that it was him who spent his idle hours thinking of new ways to inflict pain to others, to his bullies. To everyone.
The boy was down, shocked and hurt, but not enough for him to worry, as he fled, fled to the sweet arms of Darkness.

Where people like him were, that understood the futility of a life of light, where only hate reigned, and pain lived.

The realists who didn�t hide away from the dark corners of life, in fact embraced it as part of their humanity.

There was good reason why he and Lucius got along so well.

And it was not because they shared similar tastes in alcohol.

+++++++

AN: Finally, FINALLY we�ve reached this point. FINALLY. I�ve wanted to be at this point for a while now, and now we are I can do a little dance of happiness! Except of course, this chapter turned out to be a bugger to write. >: Especially since I�ve been battling with a bad case of writer�s block that seems intent on moving in. To be honest I just wanted to be all "blabla sex, blabla death blabla fleeing blabla"

At first this chapter seemed rather flat, but then I realized I needed more of Severus� POV in it, and added the end bit and now it seems more looped together to my satisfaction! I had this chapter written, but I had this innate "DON�T POST IT YET" so I reread my entire story, which was a good thing, since I had forgotten something major, and it remolded this chapter into what it is now, and it added the scene between Hermione and Severus where Severus decides once and for all who he�s fighting for. Sorry for the super long delay, but I hope the chapter makes up for it!

All errors are mine due to lack of a beta reader. Thanks. I've got some beta readers now, so thanks!

Thanks for all the reviews, they helped bolster me in fighting my writer�s block, and I have the next chapter begun. Hopefully the wait won�t be as long as it was for this chapter, but I won�t make any guarantees.

AND I might go back and edit the entire chapter and add stuff or take stuff away. But I�ll tell you if I do.. I�m fairly sure this is what I want.. fairly.
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The Morning After