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pursuit	By : darkembraces Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 1955 -:- 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
- 3
- 4
disclaimer: see chapter one
CHAPTER 4

Hermione had spent the next few days avoiding Severus; she was still hurt and angry with him for making her a conquest. Her perception of herself was validated with this action. She had always known that no man would ever want to settle down with a know-it-all; no man wanted a difficult woman, especially one with brains. She was good-looking enough for a fling, but would be left once the guy got what he wanted. She had dated a couple of guys, but none lasted longer than a week. There was only one man who seemed interested in her and was even smart enough to follow her conversations. He was a Ravenclaw who had graduated a few years before her. She gave in and finally slept with him; he left her the next day. He said he couldn�t stand being with a woman smarter than him. She had come to terms with the fact that she was going to die an old spinster.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

�Hey, Hermione! Can I talk to you for a minute?� Charlie Weasley called after her in the hallway on Saturday morning.

She turned around and smiled at him. �Oh, hello, Charlie; sure. What do you need?� she asked him.

�I was going to go to the Burrow this afternoon to visit with Ron one last time before the term starts. Mum asked me to invite you. She thinks it will be good for him.�

�I was thinking about going there anyway. What time are you leaving?�

�Two o�clock.�

She looked at her watch. �All right, I will see you then. Meet me in the entrance hall.� He nodded at her, and they headed off for breakfast.

After she finished her breakfast, Hermione went back to her quarters to get ready for the afternoon visit. Her favorite inhabitant of the castle stopped her.

�Hey, my little Gryffindor show-it-all.� Peeves hovered over her, following her down the hall.

�Go away, Peeves. Today is not a good day,� Hermione snapped at him and continued more quickly on to her destination.

�Aww, that is no way to talk to your favorite poltergeist. Can I have another undergarment? That great greasy bat took it away from me last week,� Peeves whined.

�What! Severus has my bra? I can�t deal with this! Now go away before I hex you.�

He sensed the seriousness in the irate witch and left, to her relief. She didn�t want to get into any type of confrontation before a visit with Ron.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At 2:15, Hermione once again found herself being ushered into the Burrow by Molly Weasley.

�So how is Ron doing, Molly? Any better?� Hermione inquired politely, knowing the truth already. He had to be getting worse. Molly loved her son, but she was not a healer.

�Oh, he has his moments, but he is still sad all of the time,� she said, her voice filled with more confidence than her face showed.

Hermione waited downstairs while Charlie saw Ron first. He came down fifteen minutes later, looking distressed.

�All I did was give Ron a chocolate frog. He opened it and the frog jumped out. Then he started sobbing and pulling at his hair, murmuring something about Harry. I didn�t know what to do.� Charlie looked defeated and confused.

�Hermione, dear, why don�t you go up and talk to him? You will make him feel better,� Molly said as she ushered her toward the stairs.

Hermione heard him sobbing before she reached his door. She slowly opened it and walked quietly inside. Ron was lying on his bed, clutching his pillow with something in his hand. She walked over, sat on his bed, and rubbed his back comfortingly.

�What happened?� she simply asked.

He opened his hand, revealing a wizarding trading card. She picked it up and looked at it. The familiar eyes of Harry Potter met her own, as the picture waved at her. She placed it on Ron�s nightstand and began her ritual of soothing her friend.

�Ron, he wouldn�t want you to be upset and sulking about. It is not your fault he died, no matter how much you blame yourself.� She spoke softly to him, stroking his hair as if he were a small child.

�I should have been paying attention during the battle. I was a distraction for him,� Ron gave his usual response.

�Ron, I love you. You need to stop doing this to yourself. Harry didn�t sacrifice himself so you could live like you were already dead,� she spoke the simple truth.

�I am not worthy of living. Everyone would be better if I were already dead. I am causing too much strain on you all.� He began sobbing some more.

Hermione gathered him in her arms and rocked him. �Shh, don�t say that, Ron. Please don�t say that.�

They stayed that way for an hour, until he eventually fell asleep. She ate dinner at the Burrow before Apparating back to the school.

* * * * * * *

Upon her return, Hermione searched the castle until she saw who she was looking for. She grabbed the blond-haired man and dragged him after her.

�Come on, Draco. We are going to the Three Broomsticks,� she ordered him.

�Weasley has gotten that bad, huh?� he inquired.

�I don�t want to talk about it. Let�s go.�

They made their way to the bar and began drinking. Surprisingly, Draco was having a hard time going shot-for-shot with her. After she got drunk and in a good mood, Draco conjured his chess drinking game again. This one wasn�t nearly as close as the last one; she lost horribly. She had consumed a vast amount of liquor before he decided she had enough to drink, and they left the bar, stumbling back to the castle once again. Hermione seemed confused and stopped to throw up a couple of times. He was having a hard time keeping her upright in his own drunken state. They made it to the school by sheer luck, but didn�t make it much farther than the entrance hall. Draco could no longer hold up the two of them and dropped her.

She started crying and breathing irregularly. �Ron is going to kill himself, then I will lose them both.� She cried a bit more, then threw up. Her vomit was tinged with blood, which sobered up Draco enough to go get help.

While heading toward the hospital wing, he ran into Severus. The Potions Master had been prowling the halls, trying to figure out how to deal with his new-found feelings of love for Hermione, when Draco found him.

�Severus, come quick! It is Hermione. I think she has alcohol poisoning,� Draco told him.

He followed the young man as best as he could, condering he was following a drunken person who was having trouble walking and navigating.

�Hold on a minute, Draco. Accio Sober-up potion.� The vial flew into his hands; he gave it to the blond man.

�Thank you, Severus.�

�Would you care to tell me why she is this drunk?� Severus inquired while they made their way through the hall.

�It is Weasley. She gets upset whenever she sees him, and today she decided to get pissed drunk. She got carried away tonight, though,� he explained.

They found her in the same spot, still sobbing. She had vomit on the front of her robes and was incoherent. Severus swept her up into his arms and carried her towards the dungeons.

�Why aren�t you taking her to the hospital wing, Severus?� Draco asked, confused that she wasn�t being taken to a healer.

�I want to spare her the embarrassment of being seen in such a state by Poppy. This would be all around the staff table by morning,� he explained, knowing how much of a gossip Poppy was.

When they arrived at Severus� chambers, he laid her down on his bed and cleaned her up. He dressed her in one of his shirts after washing the vomit off of her. Draco was busy preparing a potion for him while he was busy with her. She wasn�t too coherent, and kept mumbling something about Ron. Severus was getting angry with this young man for causing her so much grief. Draco came into the room with the finished potion and administered it to her. She soon fell asleep and was visibly better.

Severus tucked her into bed and sent Draco to his own quarters, after promising him that he would take care of her. He slept on the couch that night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hermione woke up with a pounding headache, an extremely dry mouth, and an overwhelming urge to throw up. She got up and ran to an open door, which thankfully led to a bathroom, and emptied the contents of her stomach. She washed her face and rinsed her mouth out. Stepping back into the bedroom, she realized that she had no idea where she was or what happened last night. The only two things she knew for sure were this wasn�t her room, and she was wearing a man�s shirt that she knew wasn�t Draco�s. She looked around the room for her own clothes, and couldn�t find them.

�Drink this. It will make you feel better.� The voice of Severus Snape came from the doorway.

�Pro... Severus, where am I? What happened?� Hermione questioned.

He took a moment to notice how good she looked, standing there in his shirt.

�You obviously are in my bedroom. Now drink this; trust me.� He handed her the vial, and she slowly began to drink it.

The potion worked quickly, and she felt much better. With a clear head, she began to think over the situation. She was in Severus Snape�s bedroom wearing one of his shirts, with no memory of what happened last night. Hermione came up with only one possible assumption. She paled, and looked up at him.

�We didn�t � umm � you know � last night, did we?� she asked nervously.

He couldn�t help himself; he raised an eyebrow at her and didn�t say anything. She started panicking a bit, assuming she was correct.

�No, Hermione, we did not. Draco dragged you into the castle with a severe case of alcohol poisoning. I gave you something for it and laid you down here to save you from Poppy�s gossip,� he replied, relieved that she was much better. �How are you feeling?�

�I am so sorry I was such a burden last night. I have only gotten drunk a couple of times. I must have lost myself; I am feeling much better now. Thank you, Severus.� She was embarrassed that he had seen her in another drunken state, so soon after the drunken and half-naked state from just a few days ago.

She looked down at herself and realized that she was wearing one of his shirts. She became very self-conscious. �Would it be possible for me to get some of my own clothes?�

�Why don�t you go ahead and wash up. I will have some clothes ready for you on the bed when you are done,� he offered.

�Thank you, Severus. I appreciate it.� She disappeared back into the bathroom.

Last night scared him more than he liked to admit. He worried about her, and felt overwhelmed by his strong need to protect her. He had never before felt this way about anyone. He knew for sure that he was in love with her, and had to find a way to make her feel the same. He walked over to the fireplace and flooed a house elf to retrieve her clothes.

Hermione was enjoying a nice long shower, and was surprised to find shampoo and conditioner at her disposal. After she finished cleaning up, she found as promised a set of her robes on the bed. Walking into the living room, she found Severus sitting by the fireplace in an armchair, looking thoughtfully into the fire. She took her time to study him. He wasn�t the best-looking man she had ever seen, but she did admire his intelligence, and he had a nice body from what she could see. He always carried himself with confidence. It was too bad that he didn�t feel anything for her; they could have been compatible. She was interrupted from her scrutiny by a knock on the door. Severus got up and answered it.

A very worried-looking Draco came through the door. As soon as he spotted Hermione, he grabbed her and hugged her.

�Don�t ever do that to me again! You scared me half to death. No more alcohol binges after visits to Weasley�s again, okay?� he admonished her.

Releasing her, he looked over at Severus, who looked different than ever before. The man looked jealous. Draco smirked at him.

�Thank you for helping, Severus. I have so few friends left. I don�t want to see any of them in danger.� Draco put an emphasis on the word �friends.� He was going to question him about that later.

�Are you hungry, Hermione?� Draco asked her.

�A little. I have nothing left in my stomach after last night,� she replied.

Draco smacked his hands together and rubbed them. �Great! Breakfast is about to start. I am famished myself.�

He started leading the way out, but Hermione stopped and walked over to Severus. �Thank you again for taking care of me, Severus.� She hugged him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, leaving a stunned Potions Master in his room.

He raised his hand to his face, feeling a hundred times better.

While eating breakfast, Hermione thought about the previous day � well, the parts she could remember, anyway. She and Charlie had gone to see Ron, and she had a chat with Peeves about her bra. She suddenly remembered something about that encounter and what the poltergeist had said. She dropped her fork.

�That bastard!� she exclaimed.

�What is the matter, Hermione?� Draco asked.

�I am going to hex that Slytherin. He has had my bra for almost a week and hasn�t given it back to me,� she explained.

�What makes you think Peeves is a Slytherin?� Draco asked, looking at her strangely.

�What? I wasn�t talking about Peeves. He told me yesterday that Severus took my bra from him. I haven�t gotten it back from him, so that means he still has it. I think I am going to have a talk with Severus, if you will excuse me, Draco. I will see you later.�

She stood up and exited the Great Hall. She intercepted the Potions Master as he emerged from the dungeons. He looked happy about something and was completely oblivious that he was about to get confronted. She walked up to him, grabbed his arm, and dragged him behind her to her quarters.

�What in Merlin�s name do you think you are doing, Hermione? Let go of me! I am not an errant child.� He scowled and tried unsuccessfully to remove himself from her grasp.

�That sounds about right,� was all she said until she got to her door. She said her password and pulled him inside.

�I want my bra now, and don�t try to pretend you don�t have it. Peeves told me you took it,� she said. Her hands were on her hips, and she was staring straight at him.

He reluctantly stuck his hand into his robe pocket and removed the garment in question, then handed it to her. She grabbed it from him and threw it across the room.

�Why in Merlin�s name was it in your pocket?� She glared at him.

He shrunk back for a bit and responded, �I forgot to give it back to you. I had meant to give it back to this morning, but it obviously slipped my mind. I brought it upstairs and was trying to do it discreetly. Unless you would like your undergarments seen by Albus, or anyone else for that matter,� he lied smoothly.

She eyed him suspiciously. �Very well, I apologize for jumping to conclusions.�

�Draco is right, you know,� he said.

�About what?�

�You need to stop getting drunk when you are upset about Weasley. You really scared both of us.�

�I am sorry I was such a problem; I have never done that before. It is just getting too much to deal with when it comes to Ron.� She looked down.

He noticed out of the corner of his eye an easel with a half-finished picture of the boy on it.

�I thought you only painted those already dead?� he asked curiously.

�I am just getting a head start, Severus; he will kill himself any day now,� she said sadly as she looked at the portrait. She became quiet and thoughtful. �I just don�t know what I am going to do with both of them gone. The three of us were friends for so long, then just the two of us, and soon�� She got misty-eyed and struggled with her composure, not wanting to cry in front of him.

She felt a pair of arms circle around her and hold her. He said nothing, but she felt comforted and hugged him back.

�Thank you, I needed that.�
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