In an Alternate Universe

Chapter 31 ~ In the Corridor

Fully dressed, Severus poked his head out the door and checked the study
carefully for Hermione, his black eyes shifting about in search of the snarky
witch. He needn’t have worried. She was in the shower. He could hear the water
running.

For a moment, Severus was tempted to go into her bedroom and take a little peek,
but decided against it. He was hungry and there was only a little time before
breakfast ended, so he left the dungeons, heading for the Great Hall.

When he entered, Harry and Ron were there. They looked up at him for a moment,
then returned to their food. Severus sat down next to Harry. Neither of them
greeted him.

He was getting the “Silent Treatment.”

He pulled a plate of bacon toward him and as he filled his own plate, Severus
said non-chalantly,”Ron, do you want to go flying this afternoon?”

Ron looked at him, surprised, then he scowled.

”I thought you had better things to do than go flying with us,” he said angrily.

Severus sighed.

”I was just out of sorts, Ron. I’ve been under a lot of pressure with the
Polyjuice potion I was brewing, and Professor Granger was going to examine the
results last night. I’m sorry I yelled at you,” Severus said to him.

Harry nodded.

”I told you it was stress,” he said to Ron smugly.

”Yeah, well, he shouldn’t take it out on me, but . . . I understand. Being
trapped with Granger is enough to make anyone’s cheese slip off its cracker.
It’s all right, Sev. Yeah, I’d like to go flying.”

Severus smiled at him.

”All right. I just have to get the next potion started and I’ll be free the
entire afternoon,” the Gryffindor said.

Both Harry and Ron smiled at him. They had their friend back.

”Did you hear about what happened to Draco’s dad?” Harry asked Severus as he bit
into a slice of buttered bread.

”Yeah, I did,” Severus said without batting an eye. He felt nothing.

”Vicious,” Ron said, shaking his head, his eyes wide. “Someone carved the word
RAPIST in his forehead. The healers don’t think it will ever come off either.
They’ve never seen a spell like it. It causes pain if anyone even touches the
writing. Kind of cool really.”

”Maybe he’ll grow bangs to cover it up,” Harry said.

“Yeah, but I wonder who did it. The person would have to be really sharp to
catch Lucius Malfoy like that. He was a Death Eater,” Ron said. “I bet there was
more than one attacker.”

Harry and Ron discussed all the possibilities concerning the assault on Malfoy
Sr., but Severus didn’t say a word as he ate his breakfast.

As far as he was concerned, Lucius Malfoy got much less than he deserved and was
lucky to be alive.

**********************************

True to his word, Severus set up the next brewing and spent the afternoon with
Ron and Harry. The Gryffindor found that he really did miss being with them and
enjoyed a couple of rounds of “Kill the Wizard with the Quaffle” and “Broom
Tag.” He had to patch Ron up though when he got entangled in the branches of the
Whomping Willow.

You couldn’t play a meaningful game of “Broom Tag” without playing it near the
willow. It added a touch of danger to the game, since if the tree tagged you . .
. you were definitely tagged.

Ron was lucky really. The Willow couldn’t whomp properly when something was
tangled in the small branches. It had to work it out to proper whomping level
first, so all it really did was ‘whip’ rather than ‘whomp.’

Before a screaming struggling Ron was passed down from whipping to whomping
level, Severus neatly soared in and stopped the tree by pressing on a bit of
root at the base of the trunk.

”Thanks Sev,” a relieved Ron said as he slid to the ground. But, unfortunately
the handle of his broom was cracked and would have to be repaired, and soon.
Severus saw to the little welts on his freckled face and Ron was fine, if
bemoaning his lack of broom action for the next few days.

They then returned to Gryffindor tower, where Ron dominated both Harry and
Severus at Wizarding Chess. Then they played a few games of Snap, and finally
Severus insisted on seeing their last week’s assignments, which after a bit of
bickering, Ron and Harry sullenly produced.

Both of Severus’ eyebrows rose.

”Gods, you two are . . . just sad,” he said as he perused the marks and content,
shaking his head. “I swear, neither of you is going to make it out of here with
anything above an ‘Acceptable’ at this rate. These marks are absolutely dismal.
Give me a bit of parchment, Ron.”

Ron did so, and he and Harry exchanged glances as Severus went about scheduling
their study time for the next month. After about twenty minutes, Severus handed
them over. Ron and Harry groaned as all their free time virtually disappeared.

”Hey, when will we be able to go flying?” Ron asked, frowning at his schedule.

”You have an hour a week, spread out here, here and here,” Severus replied,
pointing to the precious minutes with one long pale finger.

”Twenty minutes? Severus, you must be kidding me?” Harry said to his friend, who
scowled.

”It’s plenty. Especially if you include Quidditch practice. Now, stop whining.
It’s more important you get good marks than flying time,” he snapped at them.
“Especially you, Harry, if you want to get that Auror job at the Ministry after
graduation.”

Harry sighed. Severus was right of course.

”Ok, I have to go back to the lab to check on my brew,” Severus said, “I’ll see
you both at supper. You have some free time. I suggest you hit the books . . .
in fact beat them to death.”

This was met by two more groans.

After Severus left Ron looked at Harry with a hangdog expression.

”Maybe we were better off with him staying in the dungeons,” he griped, opening
his Arithmancy book.

*******************************

As Severus was heading toward the dungeons, Luna seemed to materialize out of
nowhere, her protuberant blues eyes focused on the tall wizard.

”Hi Severus,” she said dreamily, falling in step with him.

Severus reddened a bit.

”Hi Luna,” he responded as she slipped her arm through his, slowing him down.

”Have you thought about shagging me?” she asked him forwardly.

”I . . . er . . . no. Not really. I’ve been busy,” he said to her, running his
finger around his robes collar unnecessarily.

”Yes, I know. You have Draco doing your rounds for you at night. I know because
I’ve waited to ambush you, but . . . then Draco comes along and I’m
disappointed. So . . . when can we get together?” Luna said.

Severus swallowed.

Luna would probably be much easier to shag than Professor Granger at this point,
and he loved how shagging felt . . . but he doubted it would be the same with
Luna. She was so young and well, thin. He was thin too, a bit anyway. He
wouldn’t have the cushion like he had with Hermione. He looked down at Luna.

Hermione was billowing up the hall when she saw Severus with Luna on his arm.
She scowled slightly, then suddenly Disillusioned herself and stepped back into
a niche so she could hear what they were talking about.

She felt a little flush of jealousy at seeing the blonde on Severus’ arm. Was
the little bastard playing games? She’d shrink his cock to the size of a
toothpick if he was, the randy little . . .

”Ah, Luna . . . not that I want to hurt your feelings,” Severus said slowly,
“but I’m really interested in someone else.”

Luna shrugged.

”That’s okay. I don’t want to go out with you . . . I just want to shag you. I
won’t interfere with any of your long-term plans,” she said with a naughty
smile. “Besides, being interested in someone isn’t actually being with them, so
you’re still on the open market.”

Hermione snarled. Why the little trollop. She just wanted uncomplicated sex.
Good grindelows. Did all witches start out so young?

“I suppose you’re right,” Severus said diplomatically, “but I don’t think she’d
appreciate finding out I shagged another witch while I’m pursuing her. It could
make things complicated, and they’re complicated enough.”

”I imagine so. Trying to shag your professor has to be hard work,” Luna agreed.

Both Hermione’s and Severus’ eyes bugged out almost as much as Luna’s
protuberant orbs with this comment.

”What?” Severus spluttered, “who told you I was trying to shag a professor?”

”Not a professor. Professor Granger. And no one told me, I could see for myself
that you want to get into her knickers. She’s dark and mysterious. That’s a
turn-on for some guys. I’d probably want to do her myself if I swung that way.”

Severus blinked down at Luna.

“It’s that obvious?” he asked her worriedly.

Luna shook her head.

”No. Most people wouldn’t even notice it. But I notice a lot of things that
other people don’t. It’s just something that comes to me. But you know, Severus
. . . she’s never going to let you do it. She doesn’t like men. I don’t mean
she’s gay . . . she just doesn’t like them but I bet she has a good reason,”
Luna said as they approached Hermione’s office. “You should take what you can
get if you can’t get what you want. I’m perfectly willing.”

Hermione’s scowl grew blacker. How dare Luna presume what she liked and didn’t
like? She didn’t hate all men . . . just most of them. Severus hadn’t yet
developed his dog gene. He was little more than a boy and so, more likable than
fully adult males. Hmmph. The little slut.

Severus stopped outside the door.

”Really Luna, I appreciate what you’re offering me. Maybe we can get together
after I graduate and leave Hogwarts . . . but right now, I don’t want to risk
messing up what little chance I have, if I have any at all,” he said to the
witch.

Luna blinked up at him and gave him a crooked smile.

”You’ve got it bad, Severus Snape. Oh well. If you get overly randy in the
meantime, just come see me and I’ll take care of it,” she said softly.

”I’ll . . . I’ll keep it in mind, Luna,” Severus replied, mentally wiping his
brow. “You’re not going to say anything to anyone are you?”

Severus was seriously considering Obliviating the witch.

“Oh no. I’ve known since forever. What you do or don’t do is your business. I
don’t like gossip,” the witch replied, removing her arm from his. “I’ll see you
later, Sev.”

”Bye, Luna,” he said, watching the witch drift up the hall as if she had nowhere
to go. Then he let himself into the office.

Hermione watched Luna pass with narrowed eyes before casting a Tripping hex at
her, making her fall on her face.

”Ow,” Luna said, getting to her knees, then feeling her nose. “Maybe I have to
shorten my robes a bit.”

She stood up, brushed herself off and continued up the dungeon corridor, none
the worse for wear.

Hermione let her get a good distance up the corridor before she emerged. She was
on her way to the Infirmary to drop off a few bottles of Healing potion. She
didn’t trust herself not to hex the girl if she were too close. Imagine, moving
in on . . .

Hermione caught herself.

What the fuck was she doing, getting jealous over a student? This was insanity.
Severus Snape could shag who he wanted when he wanted. She wasn’t in a
relationship with him. He just wanted a relationship for the short term.

Still, he had turned Luna down. Most young wizards would have hopped on her
immediately. She was a pretty witch, if a strange one.

But then again, Severus Snape was not a usual young wizard. And obviously he had
a sense of loyalty toward her, proven by what he’d done to Lucius, the Oath of
Protection he’d taken and now by not accepting Luna’s offer for meaningless sex.

Hermione hadn’t had much experience with loyalty extended to herself. She grew
up in a world where everyone looked out for their own needs first, the hell with
everyone else. Basic Slytherin philosophy: Do unto others before they can do
unto you.

She sighed, feeling a bit torn now. The fact that she felt jealous of Severus
could only mean one thing . . . and that was she was truly attracted to him,
attracted and rather attached. How the hell had this happened?

It wasn’t like with James. She could feel her desire for him pour off her every
time he came into view. Mostly she felt aggravated when she saw the Gryffindor.
But, maybe that was a defensive mechanism. A way of trying to protect herself
from any kind of emotion toward the boy. She’d been hurt before.

James Potter had been her first, and it had been wonderful and affecting. She
thought he loved her. But he didn’t. He liked her.

He fell in love with Lily Potter.

Hermione still remembered the day down by the lake, the day that ended her
friendship with James, when she screamed at James for trying to intercede,
cursing at Lily, calling her a Mudblood and him a coward. It didn’t matter that
Hermione was also Muggle-born. She was tired of being targeted by the Gryffindor
witches.

James had been completely shocked.

”I don’t need you to protect me from this filthy Mudblood bitch, you fucking
Gryffindor! You’re just like them! Go back to your house, you coward, go with
the other cowards!” she screamed.

”Fine,” James said and left.

It was then when Lily Divestoed all her clothes in front of everyone. It had
been horrible.

She later tried to apologize to James, but he told her he was tired of her
ranting against Lily and Gryffindor house, tired of her associating with known
Death Eaters . . . tired of her period.

“It’s too late. I’ve made excuses for you for years. None of my friends can
understand why I even talk to you. You and your precious little Death Eater
friends—you see, you don’t even deny it! You don’t even deny that’s what you’re
all aiming to be! You can’t wait to join You-Know-Who, can you?”

Hermione opened her mouth, but closed it without speaking.

“I can’t pretend anymore. You’ve chosen your way, I’ve chosen mine.”

“No—listen, I didn’t mean—”

“—to call Lily a Mudblood? To call me a coward? But you call everyone of my
house coward, Hermione. Why should I be any different?”

Hermione struggled on the verge of speech, but with a contemptuous look James
turned and climbed back through the portrait hole.



And out of her life.

Then came the deal with Dumbledore, but he couldn’t save James. Then followed
the years of insanity, of her obsession with Jame's memory, trying to protect
his son at the cost of her own humanity. It had all been done in the name of
‘Love.’

It had only brought her pain. She promised herself she would never love another
man again. The price was too high.

Hermione walked up the corridor, deep in thought . . . trying not to think of
that old Muggle adage:

Promises are made to be broken.

*********************************************

A/N: I’m so sick, but tried getting another chapter out. I hope it’s ok. I
thought I’d revisit her relationship with James and reversed the scene of
Severus and Lily outside of Gryffindor house when James broke off his friendship
with her. I hope it works. Talk to ya’ll later. Thanks for reading. ***