Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Torment Completed	By : Kvarta Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 31713 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 8
Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction. Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling. This story is purely for entertainment purposes, no money is being made from it.

Chapter List
- 57
- 58
- 59
A/N: I returned from my “forced” vacation! And I landed into work madness. Next chapter won’t be coming up before the beginning of Decembre.
Again, I am truly sorry for delayed chapter posting, rl just won’t give me a break :(
@BlackRose "Vienna ComiCon 2017!" - it was my first big Con, and I had a great time :), "Neither seems to want to realize their attraction for each other." - true, sometimes it is easier to be an ostrich :)
To avoid further confusion:
Italic - Past, memories
‘Single quotation mark’ - inner monologue, thoughts
“double quotation mark” - actual speech
Hermione huffed and wrinkled her nose. A long row of complicated equations and diagrams danced in front of her eyes. She was checking and rechecking their final calculation. They worked with zeal on it. Snape seemed more determined than ever to get her out of his head. Not that she’s complaining. Having his memories was a curse. In a way, they put some of the things into perspective. Whatever she survived, whatever she thought was bad, his ordeal on a daily basis was inhuman, inhumane…
Weeks ago she made her peace with fact that Dumbledore for all his benevolence wasn’t so nice or benevolent. She even got another perspective on their own behaviour during school days. What seemed to them as a valiant fight against evil... turned out to be aimless running around and falling from one trap to the other, with Snape as their personal shepard dog. He watched over them, along with all his other tasks, he landed them a hand from the shadows. He was the hero, one that never got the credit for all he’s done.
Standing up she stretched. Her mind wandered to the Snape and the room they shared. Now, she was in one of the unused rooms at the end of the corridor. This morning Lucius walked into their room with Narissa at his heel. Narissa stopped her from entering the bathroom and urged her to this room with words:
“Don’t be so worried, they had worse arguments and didn’t kill each other. Give them space to work through the difference in opinion.”
This room was obviously set for her. It had a small reception area with settee and two armchairs around tea table next to the fireplace and a kind of a workroom space near the window. And as much as she would appreciate the gesture when she first time came here… now she was unhappy.
Hermione frowned. Thinking of herself as a peeping-tom wasn’t pleasant but it was accurate. She got used to listening to their conversations. She also got used to looking at him. After that day, she would flick her wand at him in the morning, but for all other occasions, she would find an excuse to leave the room letting him “deal” with the problem on his own. He didn’t complain, and in all honesty, it does him some good, his recovery speeded up. His mood wasn’t that much better, but even there she noticed some improvement. He was not so cranky and acidic anymore. He still growled and argued and snapped, but somehow his words lacked the bite behind them.
More concerning was her own addiction. There was no other name for it, not really. It wasn’t healthy or good or acceptable. And if he knew he would find the way to powers her for sure. Watching him masturbate turned out to be her shameful little secret. Most of the time it wasn’t sexual for her, more like a bizarre art performance. Or at least that was what she told herself. It did, on occasion, provoked intense feelings and odd itching, nudging her in the direction of the shower to calm herself down. But it wasn’t… it is not like she felt attracted to him, or anything like that. He is her ex-professor and he is older, much older. No, it’s just… that he looked so different. Sometimes she thought that only in those moments she got a glimpse of the man he could have been if his life went in another direction. Oddly enough, she liked what she saw.
Her eyes roamed over the snow-covered garden. The scenery looked like it was a fairytale came to life.
“I wish I could stroll through that garden.”
It all happened in a moment. Suddenly, she was in the garden, shivering on the cold. Hermione blinked confused, how did she manage to get there? The panic rose like a tsunami, fast, hitting her hard. She had no idea how she managed to will herself into the garden. How to return was obvious and that caused her to panic. Shaking, she dashed through the garden, cutting through the Aurors milling around the courtyard and into the Manor hallway.
Her breath sounded loud in her ears. Eyesight greying and blurring. The heart was pumping, rattling in her ribcage. The air left her lungs when she recognised green marble columns. Continuing her mad dash, she turned left, nearly knocking someone on her way. The darkness of the windowless corridor gave her a bit of comfort, it looked sadly familiar. She runs into the room and slammed the door. Two pairs of eyes fixed on her. Pale blue ones looked confused, black ones surprised. She leaned on the wall and glided against it, her legs finally giving out. She was still breathing fast, struggling to bring oxygen into her lungs.
“Calm down, Miss Granger and breathe slower, you are going to give yourself a dizzy spell if you maintain that kind of breathing.” Snape’s voice sounded distant
“Severus…”
“Fear, Lucius. You should be able to recognise it by now.”
“I know what it is, but what caused it?”
“I know as much as you do.”
~ S ~ S ~ S ~
He was more than little startled by Hermione’s sudden entrance. It wasn’t the way she barged into the room, it looked on her face. She looked less afraid of that incident with a Troll. He recognised the symptoms of the panic attack. What could have caused it was beyond him. Before he could say anything the door slammed open, hitting her on the knee. At the same time, Lucius turned to the girl. Hermione yelped, but the sound was off, distant and that worried him.
Potter, followed by two aurors barged into the room
“Hermione!” called the boy
The cacophony of voices, the speed of events annoyed him. Hades decided to rejoin, he flew to the Lucius and screeched at his face. Turned to Potter and swooshed his wings at Potter before landing on the girl's knee.
“Later, Lucius. Not now.” he glanced at his friend. Lucius only nodded but didn’t move from the spot. “I’ll ask you all to leave.”
“I am not going, not until…”
“Leave, Potter – now.”
He wasn’t looking at the boy or Lucius. He wasn’t looking to her either. His entire attention focused on the Hades. The bird took a liking to her, but he never acted like this. Hades was standing on her knee, stretching his neck and body to reach her face and nuzzled next to it. Hades wasn’t a cuddly or affectionate bird, his reaction to the girl told him about the severity of the situation.
Lucius moved, albeit too slow, he turned to Potter.
“Come along Mr Potter, let us leave them alone.”
“But Hermione…”
“Whatever happened, I’m confident that Severus can deal with it.”
“Or make it worse…”
“I doubt it, but we can't exclude nothing.” Quipped Lucius which earned him an angry look from Severus and wide-eyed stare from Potter. Lucius chuckled “I wouldn’t test the situation, Mr Potter. But if you decide otherwise…it is your funeral.”
Potter frowned, glanced at Hermione who seemed not to notice him at all then him
“Will it be ok if I drop by later on?”
“Later in the afternoon will be perfectly fine, Potter.” He retorted not taking his eyes from the bird. Potter reluctantly followed Lucius out of the room. “What happened, Granger.”
“I…outside…” she mumbled
Hades screeched loudly and pecked the strand of her hair, keeping it in his beak like he wanted to maintain some contact with her. He started to worry. Hades rarely reacted this way, and never to anyone besides him. she raised her hand and stroked Hades’s chest. He could swear that the bird purred, or did what was the bird equivalent of purring.
“Come here, Granger and tell me what happened.”
She raised slowly, like she is walking through the tik dough, and walked to his bed. Hades preached himself on her shoulder. He knew that the bird's claws are sharp and unpleasant, but she seemed not to notice.
“What happened?”
“I… I don’t know…” she sounded defeated
“Tell what you know.”
“I was in the study, and then I was in the rose garden. I had…to…walk…” her voice gave out
“You had to walk through the house?”
“Yes.”
“Granger, whatever happened, and I’m sure it isn’t pleasant, this is just a house. If any harm was to come your way, it already would.” He sounded dry and clinical, even a bit annoyed but he could understand her “Did Lucius, Narcissa and Draco done anything to you in here?”
She shook her head
“Who?”
“Bellatrix and Grayback.”
“Both dead, deservingly so.”
“Still…”
“House is just the house. You were a prisoner here as much as Malfoy’s did. But you got to go after, they had to stay. They have to live in here.”
“I… I understand…still….”
“Granger,…” he started then stopped. He didn’t want to reveal anything about himself to the girl, but if they are about to proceed... she needed to be calm and in the good mental state. Well, as good as she can be. He would settle for calm and focused. What they planned was risky enough
“Can I ask you something? It is personal and if you don’t want to answer I’ll understand, I just don’t want to end up hexed later on. When you get your magic back.” She sounded almost scared
“For as long I know you, asking questions was and are what you do. I can hardly be shocked by anything you ask. Whether I’ll answer, depends on the question.”
“How could you do it? Staying in that school after… after… I mean, it must've been hard to…” she stuttered, blushing to the foots of her hair
“After I killed Albus?” he asked almost amused. The lack of words amused him, but her question still twisted that rusty dagger that slowly bleeds poison into his system. Answering that question would be too revealing for his liking. On the other hand, it might push her in the right direction. And he needed her facing that direction more than he had a need to keep a secret that wasn’t a secret anymore. He could thank the Potter for his life becoming an entertainment for the masses. In a way, it was a public knowledge, his answer might give another dimension to it. with a sigh, he fixed his gaze on her “I had a job to do. There was no one else who could do it. It wasn’t… a choice, that does not mean it was easy… I focused on the task at hand. And that is what you should do. Moreover, the school was the place where that happened, but it could easily happy anywhere. Places, Granger, are only that – dead patch of land with equally dead construction on it. What you make of it…it is all you're doing. Bad or good people are not places, they can easily move around.”
“I know, I can’t help it! I still feel… anyway, I have no idea how to stop feeling like this.”
“By sheer will. It is not easy. It is not even pleasant. You can either deal with it or succumb to using opiates that will numb you. I strongly recommend against the later, but it is still your choice.”
“Opiates? Like alcohol and drugs and such?”
“Yes.”
“Are you insane? How can you even recommend something like that?”
“I advised against it, as I recall.” His voice was cold, but he congratulated himself on her reaction
“But… even if I do indulge… the nightmares will still stay, pictures in my head will still stay…”
“They will.”
She blinked at him. He could see the cogs turning in her head. He was almost fascinated how loudly she was thinking. Her face melted from one emotion to another as clear as the sunny day. She truly was an open book.
“You did it…”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You indulged.” Her voice almost a whisper. She was looking through him rather than at him “You didn’t have the time or will or both to heal, to deal with it. Right? That’s why you want to kill yourself.”
“Granger…” he warned her, his voice vibrating from anger. She had a point, and she was correct in her assumption. But, by poking an open wound she glided into a dangerous territory and he will eviscerate her if she tries to go any further.
“Right. But I know I’m correct in my assumption.” She glared at him “Why are you helping me then?”
“I am not. If anything, I am doing my best to get rid of you. I’ve been doing that from the moment I opened my eyes, Granger. My only chance of getting rid of you is to help you.”
“You could tell Matron you don’t want me near and solve that problem” she huffed insulted
“Could I? When was the last time you tried to argue with Poppy?” he sneered at her, the kid was making fun of him for sure. It took all he had not to start yelling at her.
Hermione’s face rearranged into a mask of confusion, and he realised - it didn’t occur to her that Poppy might argue with him or win the argument.
‘Is she honestly think that? Stupid girl, no one wins an argument with Poppy.” His thoughts grumbled. But it felt…nice. To see that she had that much confidence in his abilities. He couldn't remember when someone trusted that much in him, beside Malfoy’s. It was one thing to hear a praise about his skills as Potions Master or about his skills and knowledge in Dark Arts. But this… this was direct praise of his personality, something not connected to his work. He felt annoyed that it was her of all people, but it also felt nice to know he got recognition for once. He sighed. She looked much calmer.
“Are you all right now, Granger?”
“Yes.” She whispered “Thank you.”
“Then get ready for tonight.”
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Torment *Completed*

Torment Completed