Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Forbidden Rapture	By : Marionne25 Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 49897 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 8
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and am not making money from this story.

Chapter List
- 59
- 60
- 61
Author's Note:
Long time since forever kind of post.
I'm sorry it took a really long while.
As usual, life gathered me up in a tumultuous and unwanted drag.
Long hiatus usually meant some emotional problem. Haha.
I have loads of those.
I'm sorry.
Hope you are all doing well.
We are near the ending, so hold on tight. Very few chapters left.
Rigorous changes on the emotional state of the characters as we go up to the climax of the story.
This is a long one.
Reviews are most welcome.
Do tell me how have y'all been while I was all away and caught up in my emotional whirlwind. Haha.
PS Please do check out my DraMione "Through the Son" - needs work and a BETA so any great DraMione betas out there?

Chapter Fifty Nine
The Ultimatum

“Are you insane?” Lupin incredulously asked Harry throwing over another pack of charmed cloth with frozen water inside it.
Harry looked sharply up at him bit didn’t say a word.
He took the compress and placed it over the top of his wounded cheek.
His other hand was heavily bandaged but he was struggling to write something over a parchment that Kingsley placed over the table.
They were at the headquarters of Aurors.
Kingsley was talking to two ministry officials, Draco was at another table tending to his own wounds with the same kind of compress and talking to his old man-servant who came at his aid the moment he was asked to bring someone to bring in some of his legal documents to be checked.
Apparently, the two were facing something illegal to be sorted out and since Kingsley was at the office when the two were taken by two ministry officials who passed by seeing them brawl and attempting to kill one another, Harry couldn’t do anything.
Or atleast, at the moment.
The two ministry officials were passing when they were seen down the empty street and quickly went to their air hearing Harry’s familiar voice yelling something.
Sooner than the two boys thought, both of them were taken back at the Ministry at the Auror’s office and their wands were both taken.
Harry interrupted the procedure to remind everyone he was Harry Potter when Kingsley came and took his wand from him.
Soon, Bill, Hermione and Fleur came and Draco’s assistant followed.
They were separated in the office, being asked to sign a couple of papers so they wouldn’t have to spend a night at Azkaban and they were both asked on what has happened.
They admitted the fight and Draco admitted he started it and was the one who invited Harry for a duel outside the restaurant and Harry admitted that he had taken Draco into another location and was the first to strike him.
The two were then interviewed separately on their own versions of the story.
There was no discrepancy except that Harry had to insist that Draco was looking for a fight at the restaurant whilst he was merely trying to have a peaceful meal with his fiancé and wasn’t interested into the fight he was demanding of him.
“I suggest Hermione stay with us for now.” Fleur suddenly suggested glaring at Harry without a blink.
Harry looked up at her but Bill moved Fleur gently aside and stared up at Lupin and at Hermione.
“What Fleur means is that-“
“What I meant is that I think it is safe and better if Hermione continued to stay with us for now. Until the wedding.” Fleur stated clearly folding her arms in front of her.
Hermione looked up at her.
She wasn’t sure if she wanted to hug her at the moment or tell her to keep quiet as to not anger Harry any further.
“She’s coming home with me.” Harry simply said returning his eyes over the last few parchments he was signing. “She’s my fiancé. She’s coming home with me and not with anyone else.”
Fleur opened her mouth but Bill gently took hold of her around the waist.
She looked up at him with an angered facial expression.
Bill shook his head in gentle warning.
She sighed heavily and moved herself away from him.
“I’m going to get coffee.” Fleur said turning to Hermione. “Do you want to come with me?”
Hermione looked up at her expectantly and opened her mouth to say something when Lupin spoke.
“Go with her.” Lupin said walking forward and settling himself next to the table. “We would like to talk to Harry privately.”
His eyes bordered over at Draco’s direction who was finishing up over his table and was getting ready to leave.
Harry remained still.
He kept his eyes over the documents and didn’t say anything at all.
Hermione took it as an opportunity and quickly nodded at Fleur.
Fleur gave Lupin a grateful glance and nodded at Hermione.
She completely ignored Harry who was staring up at her with an expectant gesture.
“Come, you need something to drink.” Fleur said and then she said something in French as she haughtily looked back at Harry.
Hermione and Bill’s eyes caught one another.
Whatever it was, they both understood it as they knew her language too well.
Harry could swear that he saw that Bill almost smiled after that.
The girls left.
The moment that only the boys were there, Harry stood up to hand over his documents to Kingsley but Lupin pushed him back over his chair with such a force that even Kingsley turned back his attention to them.
The minister looked slightly alarmed but Lupin looked like he was in control anyway.
He was rigidly staring down at Harry with controlled anger all over him.
Harry looked up at him with glinting eyes.
“What the-“
“What the hell it is, Harry.” Lupin said crossing his arms over his chest. “You stay there and we’ll talk.”
Harry’s eyes turned sideways at Draco’s direction but he didn’t say anything.
Lupin looked uncaring anyway whoever heard them at the moment.
Draco looked up at them but didn’t do anything.
He continued packing his things but his ears were already eavesdropping.
“What are you doing?” Harry asked him. “What are you talking about?”
Lupin glared down at him.
He towered over Harry and was glowering at him as if Harry had done something extremely bad that deserved detention from him.
“What are you doing?” Lupin questioned back at him. “I expected better from you. I always expected better from you.”
Harry gritted his teeth.
He looked around and noticed Draco finish his packing and he began leaving the room.
He was decent enough and mature enough to not want to be there to see it all happen.
Harry waited for him and his assistant to leave before he turned back to Lupin.
Lupin gave Kingsley and Bill a nod and they all left the two of them in the office.
The moment they were alone, Harry stood up and threw the folder with parchments he had signed over the table.
“What the fuck do you want?” Harry angrily said.
He stared up at his old mentor with anger rising inside of him.
Lupin stared back at the boy he had always loved as his own son.
“This is insane, Harry.” Lupin said. “You’re going out of the line. This isn’t right.”
“I was having a decent meal with Hermione and he comes-“
“He comes what?” Lupin interrupted him. “He comes challenging you into a brawl? Since when did you ever think that got good results?” he asked him.
Harry didn’t answer.
“You’re acting like a child-“
“I’m not a child-“ Harry yelled at him standing up as he grabbed his cloak over the chair.
“Well you sure are acting like one to me.” Lupin spat back at him and pushed Harry back over his chair.
Harry’s eyes flashed.
“You goddamn sit down. I am not yet done talking to you.” Lupin said through gritted teeth.
Harry stared at him with such hatred in his eyes.
He walked back to the table but didn’t sit back over his chair.
“Are you second years?” Lupin asked angrily. “You’re not some goddamn Hogwarts students, Harry. You’re adults now. You should act like one-“
“Oh yeah?” Harry said. “Why didn’t you tell him that? Why do you have to reprimand just me?”
“Because Malfoy is not my problem -“
“And I am-“
“No.” Lupin angrily said. “You however is my responsibility.”
“Responsibility?” Harry reacted in a mocking voice. “Since when did I ever become your responsibility?”
“Since the day I entered that classroom and I started teaching you.”
“You’re wrong.” Harry muttered. “You are so- you don’t have any right!“
A glint passed Lupin’s eyes.
“Yes. I’m wrong.” Lupin said. “You became my responsibility the moment that Lily bore you in that stomach of hers.”
Harry watched as he began clearing his things away.
“You’re not my godfather.” Harry quietly said. “Sirius was.”
Lupin looked up at him.
There was intensity in his eyes and a gleam of hurt.
Harry stood there, quietly staring and unmoving.
Lupin looked like there were a lot of things in his mind that he wanted to discuss to him.
“I know you’re devastated over what happened to you and to Hermione and I think we all know that Severus deserves more than Azkaban for what he has done – but you cannot just put justice into your own-“
“I am Harry Potter!” Harry angrily yelled at him standing up with all the anger rising inside of him. “I am goddamn Harry Potter and I will do whatever the hell I want after everything I have sacrificed for all of you!”
He was breathless.
His nostrils dilating and his eyes heavy on Lupin.
His mentor looked back at him with disbelieving eyes.
“Harry, do you think-“
“I don’t need you to know what I think and I certainly don’t need to know what you think.” Harry angrily whispered. “You’re not my father. You’re not even my godfather.”
A flash of hurt passed Lupin’s eyes one more time.
His fists clenched but he didn’t say anything.
The moment of hurt passed his eyes and he nodded at Harry and turned from him.
“You’re right.” Lupin said with a small smile. “I’m not Sirius. But I bet that you wished he was the one here with you, right?”
Harry didn’t say anything.
A gleam of worry passed his eyes but that quickly vanished.
He took a step forward but stopped immediately when Lupin slightly raised his hand to stop him.
“Sirius was always there with you right?” Lupin said as he packed his things as well. “Sirius – your godfather- yes, he has more right to you than I do so. He was the only one who understood all the fucking time, right? I should have thought about it-“
“Remus, that’s not what I-“
“No, Harry.” Lupin interrupted him. “I think it’s very, very clear what you meant.”
“No, Sirius was just – he just understood me in a way that- “
“In a way that I couldn’t?” Lupin asked him. “Sirius understood when I couldn’t?”
“Professor Lupin-“
“You’re right. I’m just your mentor – yes, your father’s friend – but nothing that borders more than that like a father for me to have a say on this matter and for you to say that I don’t feel for you nor understand you.”
For the first time in the years they’ve known one another, Harry had seen a kind of hurt and anger rise in Lupin’s eyes that he has never seen ever before.
“Remus, I only meant-“ Harry began but the emotional damage has been done. “Professor Lupin, please-“
“You think I don’t get? You think I don’t understand your pain in those ten long years?”
“Wait-“
“You think I felt nothing for her, for you - every goddamn single night in those ten years you would cry and wail her name in your sleep?”
His eyes were burning with anger.
Harry couldn’t find the right words to tell him to calm down and listen to him.
“You think I didn’t suffer as much knowing I was the only father figure left and I couldn’t even do anything to ease your pain- to save you and Hermione from everything until today?“
Harry watched him close his bag and grab his cloak from the couch at the other side of the room.
“Remus-“
There was so much spite in his eyes.
His eyes were even burning with much regret.
His face was red in both anger and his struggle not to cry in front of the younger man.
“Professor Lupin, please – I didn’t mean-“
“When you were a child, you were a lot like Lily.” Lupin slowly said meeting his eyes with a gentle smile at the memory of his mother.
“Professor-“
“And when you were growing up, you seemed and deemed to be a bit more like James.” Lupin paused for a moment as if contemplating if she should continue what he wanted to say.
He did.
“And right now Harry, you’re just neither of them.”
And with that, he left Harry and shut the door with a snap behind him leaving Harry in a more miserable state than he had been in for the past several hours.

“Spotless. Right. What to do next?”
Hermione stared over at the couch then all over the living room around her.
She had spent two hours cleaning the whole place spotless and moving around the furniture.
It didn’t make much difference since there was little space and nothing much to move around but it made her feel different and satisfied in a sort of way.
She folded her arms and thought about going to the kitchen to work on next or the small spot in their room where Snape usually worked late night.
Their bathroom and bed and wardrobe were already clean and organized as she could possibly put it to be so.
She’s atleast cleaned it twice that morning and had moved things and organized the books in the shelves.
The kitchen, the small work spot in their room and Snape’s laboratory down the stairs were the places she’s not yet touched.
Well, his small laboratory was a place she’s never really allowed to clean or so.
She doubted anyway that there were anything to clean in there since Snape had always been well organized with his things.
She’s only ever been there for a very few times as far as she could remember.
Since she didn’t have any injury that needed to be tended to she was no longer allowed in there.
She’s always wondered why so but never really nagged on about it.
The garden outside was ofcourse, already out of the question.
The opening of the wards sounded from the outside and Hermione knew that Snape had just arrived.
It was just around three in that rainy afternoon and he was back early.
He told her he would sell some of his selections but he seemed to be a little early from it.
His trips usually lasted a day or longer than three hours.
“Severus?” Hermione called out walking to the entry way.
He was slightly drenched with the rain with a few bags in his hands.
Someone had obviously made good business that day.
He looked up at her with a morose look over his face.
Hermione quickly walked up to him and helped him out of his traveling cloak the moment he was done with warning the whole place back.
“I’ll make you a soup or tea?” she asked quickly taking the cloak away from him and wiping his damp face with the sleeve of her dress.
Snape only stared down at her and nodded at him.
“I’ll get a shower perhaps.” Snape said walking away from her and down the small corridor.
Hermione quickly followed him to the kitchens where he laid the grocery bags he had with him and three others that contained other needs.
“I bought you something.” Snape quietly said handing her a smaller bag from the rest.
Hermione took it and opened it.
It contained two new set of clothes and three new books.
Her eyes lit up at his take home for her.
“Oh, Sev-“
“I’m going to the shower.” Snape countered stopping her from making a step towards him.
Hermione only nodded at him.
“I’ll make you something warm to eat.” Hermione called out down the corridor as he walked away and vanished up the steps.
She listened and heard him shut their door.
What has just happened?
He was usually tired after his business trips but was always cheerful when he returned especially when he made good business.
And the number of bags in the kitchen told Hermione that he had more than made good business that night.
Shoving thoughts out of her head, she placed her bag of new clothes and books back in the living room couch and returned to the kitchen.
She looked around and about the bags for something she could use into making some chicken soup for him in that rainy afternoon.
He was tired and maybe hungry.
The weeks and months had not been easy especially with the times they had both gone down the road of intimacy that were not only accidental at first but had been fulfilling and remorseful later on.
But Hermione knew in her that she wasn’t going to survive without him and that her emotional strength depended on that man no matter how crazy the arrangement they may be at the moment.
But that wasn’t something she could care about right now.
She was safe and she wasn’t harming him in any way that was beyond the boundaries anyway.
And he promised to bring her back to them once it was quite safe.
He promised her.
That was all that matters at the moment.
Hermione smiled, contended and hummed to herself as she began dishing out things in the kitchen to make him some soup.
Little did she know that at the ends of the largest bag he had were his created potions.
They have been untouched and unsold.
The client he was supposed to meet that day to buy the potions he had made for more than a week didn’t arrive.
No note, no nothing.
And he couldn’t go back home without anything for her.
He couldn’t go back home with an empty hand and return to a house without refilling their cupboards – let alone, without refiling her heart with happiness.
He had stayed for hours all morning at the café where the client was supposed to meet him.
Nothing.
After hours of thinking and knowing that the client wasn’t going to turn up he turned to the struggling thought that had been bugging him the whole day.
He decided that it was his only and desperate way to get back home to Hermione without being empty handed.
He sent a Patronus to Narcissa.
And within half an hour that he had done so, a woman cloaked and had dyed a black here arrived in the café.
She had arrived with all the things he needed and more.
The last time they met were nothing short of yelling to one another.
With Snape’s impatience and Narcissa’s imperative decision to force him into doing what has to be done ended with them parting with cruel and agonizing words that did hurt the other.
But Narcissa had been right with her instinct and her words to tell him that they needed one another.
Snape had been stubborn for weeks.
But he still ended in the way Narcissa had expected it to be so.
She wasn’t angry.
Her anger for him faded weeks ago; the moment even she stepped out of the inn that had accommodated them in their last meeting.
She was only sitting in the manor waiting for him to send her a message.
And it had arrived three weeks later.
Snape sat back at the café wordless as he was, his black eyes spoke of everything he wanted to say.
Narcissa knew and understood him without him having to say anything at all.
She reached for his hand across the table and Snape looked away with burning eyes.
She held his hand gently and warmly for quite some time until he was able to look back at him with nothing short of a thank you.
Narcissa smiled back and let his hand go.
In exchange, she gently placed a very thick envelope that contained enough resources to survive him and Hermione for another three months.
Her other hand held a few copies of newspaper clippings he always asked of her.
“The Dark Lord has fallen.” Narcissa quietly said. “My disguise is of no use but it was needed.”
Snape’s eyes gleamed at the sight of her and the sound of her words.
For a very brief moment there was a light of hope that passed his eyes that quickly vanished when Narcissa shook her head at him.
She reached for his hands again.
“You can’t.” Narcissa said in barely a whisper. “We both know you can’t.”
“She will be safer with them.” Snape said in what sounded like a desperate attempt to convince her.
“She is safest with you.” Narcissa simply said after she handed him everything he needed.
She quietly stood up and took her cloak preparing to leave.
“I cannot do this.” Snape desperately said. “Please. Please help me bring her back to them.”
“She will be well with you.” Narcissa quietly said.
Their eyes met.
Snape looked as angry and as helpless altogether.
“Until I see you again, Severus.”
“Cissy.” Snape whispered. “Please.”
Narcissa looked back at him.
“We’ve already talked about this. You keep an eye on her and I keep a close eye to the world outside for you.”
“I cannot do this any longer.” Snape said standing up. “I can’t – she’s – she’s not happy-“
“Who says she has to be happy?” Narcissa asked. “She only needs to be safe. And being safe does not always mean you have to be happy, Severus.”
A glint passed her eyes.
Her patience was waning and Snape knew that this conversation was going to be over soon.
“Where is the boy?” Snape asked her. “Did he-“
“He lives.” Narcissa said closing the buttons of her cloak. “He lives and has survived. He will look for her I’m sure.”
“And what do I do?”
“You do as we’ve talked about. You keep her, you keep her safe until the time has come when she can go back.”
“He will look for her.” Snape said. “He will look for her I assure you that.”
“Then it’s your job to keep it this way.” Narcissa said turning to the door and walking away from him.
“Cissy-“
“We do things we don’t want.” Narcissa whispered stopping at the door without turning to him. “we do all of it for a price. But we do them anyway for the greater good and that is all that you have to keep in that brilliant mind of yours.”
And with that, Narcissa left him miserable to his thoughts with the envelope of money clutched tightly in his hands.

Three empty bottles of whiskey lay on the carpeted floor by the fireplace.
Harry sat against the head of their couch on the floor holding a half empty whiskey bottle in his hand and a parchment in his other hand.
It was the document that he made Kingsley sign for him to have the legal right as Head Auror to go to the cottage at Beltane and search the place.
Search for what exactly?
He wasn’t sure.
But he wanted something, any sort of control over the place that held Hermione for ten long years.
He wanted to control the place that controlled her being for a decade as some form of revenge he couldn’t even put into words.
He thought about it over and over why couldn’t anyone at all sympathize with him.
Wasn’t he a victim?
Wasn’t he the one who had a say on things not just because he was the Chosen One holier than thou savior of their world but because he was the victim of Severus Snape?
Could he not seek for justice for what has been done to him?
Towards Hermione?
Couldn’t they feel Hermione’s trauma and suffering in the courtroom?
Couldn’t they understand what she has gone through?
Because as much as her first weeks back with him that she was screaming in her sleep he could only imagine things more than one that Snape had done to her.
Did they not think of those years?
Did they not understand what she could have had endured?
Did she not matter so much or as much to them as to him?
And Lupin – wasn’t he the first and only person who could have understood him like no other?
Did he not love her in a way or two before?
Godfather or not, mentor or not – he was the one whom he expected to understand them both above anyone else.
Wasn’t he the one who knew Snape above all others?
Couldn’t he tell that he is beyond guilty and deserves Azkaban even without a trial?
And Malfoy.
Draco Malfoy was getting in his way and Hermione is even seemingly fond of the way.
Did she forget what he used to call her?
Did she forget what his family thought of her?
Did she forget what he had thought of her all those years?
Why were people moving in a different direction that wasn’t in lieu of the justice he desperately clings to gain for Hermione?
He loves her – beyond anything and anyone.
Why couldn’t they understand and see that?
She’s the only one he has left.
Ten long years of suffering.
Wasn’t that long enough to be given justice?
Harry took another long swig from the bottle and the whiskey splurged all over his mouth, chest and clothes.
He angrily threw the bottle towards the fireplace.
He blindly grabbed his wand and pointed at it and it blasted into a thousand pieces in the large fire that appeared and engulfed it.
Hot stream of tears flowed all over his face as he kicked and screamed in anger over the carpeted floor throwing around anything and everything his hands could get on.
Harry lunged his wand hand around.
Pointing spells after another and destroying their own apartment with his recklessness.
He screamed for her; he screamed her name and desperately cried for her name knowing she couldn’t hear him.
No.
Not in the ten years he cried and screamed for her name did Hermione hear her desperate cries of longing and despair.

“She doesn’t want to eat.” Fleur angrily said throwing Hermione’s untouched dinner over the sink.
Bill quickly grabbed it before it got dirty and placed it aside so he could eat it later as his third helping.
“Darling-“
“Don’t darling me.” Fleur said rolling her eyes. “I told you already that she needed to be saved and all of you-“
Bill grabbed her to him and buried her face in his chest as he tightly embraced her.
He could feel her angry and struggling and cursing him in French.
He let go of her with a smile over his face.
“Not funny.” Fleur angrily snapped at him pushing herself away from him but Bill didn’t let her go.
“Darling-“
“Not – funny-“ Fleur said and then he said something in French that made Bill raised his eyebrow and kiss her over the forehead.
“You can’t get me with that.” Fleur said although she looked less angry. “I told you she’s not well there.”
“She’s staying here with us for a while then.” Bill said kissing her over the forehead again. “She can stay here until the wedding and trial are over.”
“She should be here.” Fleur said indignantly.
Bill’s funny facial expression faltered.
He slowly turned serious and nodded at her.
“I’ll write to mom or see her in the morning so she can come over and visit her.”
“With Harry?” Fleur asked sarcastically with a raised brow as she folded her arms over her chest.
“Without Harry.” Bill said taking her into a warm embrace. “I’ll make sure Harry does not come along.”
Fleur sighed into his chest.
“We can’t protect her forever but at the least we can do something right now.” Fleur said looking hopefully up at him. “You’ve seen it yourself – you saw Harry – he isn’t that boy – that boy we’ve both known-“
“I know, I know.” Bill said. “I promise we’ll do something about it-“
Bill was interrupted when an abrupt knock came upon their door.
They looked at one another.
It was half past eight in the evening and they rarely ever had visitors - let alone unannounced once.
They looked at one another with a questioning glare.
Their doubtful expressions quickly turned into alarm and before Bill could even take his wand from the counter and Fleur hers from the pocket of her robes they both heard it.
Fast drawn footsteps from the second floor and down the stairs and out down their hallway.
They quickly moved towards their entry way and saw Hermione’s blurry image ran past them and her small voice calling out, “I’ve got the door!” before they heard her skidded into a halt by the door.
They both turned and quickly followed her.
Before they knew it, the door has been opened and Hermione had cried and flung herself into the arms of a young blonde and confused boy by the doorway who held her in his chest with such a confused and shock face at the sight of them and at her actions the moment she opened the door for him.

If there was anything she despised at the moment was the sound of the door locking and unlocking and locking back itself simultaneously at the sound if his arrival or leaving presence.
She heard his usual and routinary movements from the door – after he locks it, he puts his traveling cloak up and hangs it by the wall, the sound of a jiggling paperbags or so and the familiar footsteps where he would take the bags either to their kitchen or to his office down the basement.
He has chosen the kitchen that moment.
Hermione sight heavily, gritting her teeth as she sat quietly over their long couch with a book at hand and a pair of shaking fists.
“Hermione?” Snape called out to her from the kitchen. “I’ve got some warm apple pies here for you and a couple of other dishes you might like.”
She didn’t answer.
She could hear his movements in their kitchen that sounded as excited as hungry as he could be.
The heavy snow outside continued to test the temperature of the fire in the hearth of their fireplace.
Her eyes moved towards it for a split moment before she heard him call her again.
“Hermione?” he called out.
She heard his footsteps down the corridor and halted at the base of their staircase.
“Hermione!” he called up.
Movements and she knew that he had gone up the stairs to check on her.
The sound of clicking door and another as he obviously checked their bathroom.
She heard him momentarily curse as he hurriedly walked down the stairs.
“Hermione where the-“ he stopped as he passed the living room.
The glow from the fireplace called his attention and he saw her shadowy figure casted by the light.
She was sitting, reading and unmoving by the couch.
She sighed heavily and tried to keep her eyes over her book.
“Are you deaf?” he asked her. “Did you not hear me arrive?”
Hermione turned a page of her book and ignored him.
“I heard you.” Hermione quietly said. “I was reading.”
Snape glared down at her.
“Did you not hear me call you to dinner?” he asked quietly.
“I said, I heard you.” Hermione repeated without looking up at him. “I’m reading can’t you see.”
Silence.
And then her book went flying out of her hands.
It landed with a loud thud near the fireplace.
Her eyes flashed but before she could get up to get it Snape grabbed her by the jaw and forced her to look at her.
“What the bloody hell is wrong again?” he asked her.
His glare was frightening but her exchanged glare was something else.
Her eyes burned him for a reason.
Something wasn’t right.
“Hermione?”
Before he knew it, her hand had cup out of nowhere and she slapped him as hard as she could.
He was too shocked to say anything that he let her jaw go.
Hermione moved forward and grabbed something from under the small table.
With her barefoot, she kicked it towards him.
“What the hell?” he asked quietly looking down at the box.
“Hell is what this place it.” Hermione quietly answered him. “You liar.”
“Liar – what are you- “
“Open it!” Hermione angrily said. “Open it!”
He looked up at her.
Her eyes were filled with anger and disappointment.
Something had gone terribly wrong while he was away for those four long hours.
“Hermione-“
“OPEN IT!” Hermione angrily screaming at him while shaking in tears. “OPEN IT!”
Without leaving her gaze, Snape slowly bent forward to pick up the box and slowly took off its lid without even having any guess on what it could be.
“You liar – you told me – you told me – it’s been almost a year – and you – you just-“
Hermione couldn’t even finish her words.
Snape’s black eyes slowly turned to the contents of the box.
For a split moment it his expression was blank and then a momentary gleam of fear passed his eyes.
He looked back at Hermione who looked ready to murder him.
“You LIAR!” she screamed again. “You liar! You told me – you told me it’s not safe – you told me – Harry’s been looking for me – Harry – they – they have not forgotten – they don’t know!” Hermione yelled at him and with all her might had struck him once, twice over his face.
The box fell from Snape’s hands as Hermione mercilessly attacked him with bare hands.
All the contents scattered all over the floor.
They were newspaper and magazine clippings given to him by Narcissa at each moment they saw one another.
They were headlines and articles as such about the outside world for the past consecutive weeks and months.
The Dark Lord’s downfall.
Harry Potter’s rise from his comatose state.
The fallen Order members.
The survivors of the war.
The fallen Death Eaters.
The Death Eaters taken to Azkaban.
Draco Malfoy’s service to the Ministry of Magic in exchange for all the information he has given them.
Ex-governor Lucius Malfoy’s sought after trials.
The trials of the other Death Eaters and their deaths in number.
The Wizarding World rising from the burnt ashes it came from.
The glory of Dumbledore’s Army.
The reinstatement of professor McGonagall as new headmaster of Hogwarts.
Hogwarts being rebuilt.
Everything about the outside world that she needed and had to know.
Everything.
His black eyes met hers.
He was speechless.
He didn’t know how to regain himself from this one.
“Hermione, I can-“
“I was just cleaning.” Hermione said through gritted teeth. “I was just – I thought maybe if I cleared some area I could help you better – with a better environment-“
She was backing away from him to each word she said.
“Hermione, please-“ Snape slowly advanced but she kept her stance and distance from him.
“I thought – no, I’m not going to pry over the things he didn’t want me to see or touch – it’s his privacy and I respected that-“
A look of sarcasm and pain passed through her face.
“Please.” Snape begged her. “Please, Hermione – I can-“
“Then there I was, passing through the bookshelves just trying to clean them off and some books fell and then this crack over the floor when I went to pick up the books-“
“Hermione-“
“Then it cracked and looked what I’ve found-“
“I can explain everything to you – just sit down and –“
“I was going to ignore it all you know – I thought you kept it for a reason, perhaps some privacy – until this called my attention-“
She picked up a small article.
A large picture of Draco was over the article and it was a headline.
Draco’s altered punishment as service to the Ministry of Magic after all the names and facts he has given.
“Hermione- “
“Then I thought why would Draco be punished – why would he give service to the Ministry of Magic – he’s a Malfoy after all-“
Her eyes glowed differently.
“And then I thought about – but I doubt it because you said – you always said so-“
“Hermione, It wasn’t something I wanted-“
“You said it wasn’t safe out there!” Hermione screamed at him. “You said so! YOU-SAID-SO!”
“Hermione- “
“I believed on that!” Hermione yelled. “And Draco – Draco couldn’t be – and then I started opening the box and I saw these- these and – and everything just..”
She could no longer continue.
Snape watched as her anger turned into agony and she sank back over the floor, burying her face in her knees as her hands blindly crumpled articles on the carpeted floor that she could reach.
Snape didn’t know what to say nor do.
He was bested and busted beyond he could comprehend.
There was obviously no explanation that could save him from this.
She’s finally found out that after all this time, he has been in touch and kept updated of the outside world.
And he told her that they couldn’t go back and that they only had each other.
What a lie.
What a brilliant, beyond brilliant lie.

Snape silently stared at Draco as he entered the visitor’s room.
He could see the marks around him and knew already what could have happened.
“Potter?”
“Yes.” Draco quietly answered settling himself before him. “But that’s not why I’m here.”
“Yes?” Snape slowly asked.
Draco only stared at him.
He was quiet.
It wasn’t a good sign.
Something must have happened.
He stared at his godson but couldn’t see through his thoughts.
He was obviously blocking him.
“Draco?”
“We have very, very little time left.” Draco slowly said and he could tell the seriousness in hi tone. “So I’m going to make this quite short and straight to the point.”
“I’m listening.” Snape answered him with his black eyes unblinking as he stared back.
Draco stared at him and inhaled deeply.
“Hermione will get married in a few days as we know.” he slowly began. “The decision on your case will be largely affected by that – in other words, their wedding will result for you to live. If the wedding does not happen, you die at the hands of the Dementors – as simple as that..”
“Clearly.”
“Do not interrupt me.”
Snape’s black eyes flashed at him but he didn’t say anything.
Draco gave him an impatient glare.
“Given these, we cannot stop the wedding.”
“We can’t.”
“At the moment at the least.” Draco said with a glimmer in his eyes.
Snape raised an eyebrow.
“You are saying?”
“I cannot save Hermione at the moment from getting married to Potter.” Draco said. “I can’t save her life more than I could save yours. But…” Draco paused, thinking.
Snape waited.
“But if I can find a way – any other way – to give evidence for the last trial, I can save your life thus. We can save hers.”
Something like light of hope appeared in Snape’s eyes.
But he couldn’t understand Draco.
“What do you want?”
“What I need rather.” Draco said.
Snape waited.
But Draco merely started organizing his things to leave.
“Draco?”
“Only you can provide the help for your and Hermione’s freedom.”
“Draco-“
“I do not know what you are still keeping from me. But this is the last time you would see me if you rather that I don’t help you or her.”
“What are you talking about?”
“We all get tired, godfather.” Draco said slinging his bag around his shoulders. “I only came here to tell you that fact and to ask you for the last time – I need an evidence – all of it – to what really happened ten years ago. So I can save you. So we can save her.”
Snape couldn’t read him but Draco could almost do so to him.
He wasn’t stupid.
He knew that his godfather was still keeping something.
As heavy as a burden as it could be, he felt he already had a hunch – a long time ago.
But it was self denial that he wouldn’t let himself go to that direction.
But he was an adult and if it was the only way he could save him, he could save Hermione.
“Draco-“
“As we both know, lives perish. Names also do so. There I no need to cling into something that has been gone for so long. It does not matter anymore what would be gone, what would fade nor what would be tarnished. I hope you know and learn that the lesson is what is important is the here and now.”
“I would like to help you.”
“I don’t think you do.” Draco said walking to the door. “Don’t think of yourself. Think of Hermione. If you loved her as you say so, if you had come through all those years – all those sacrifices, this is the last time she will ask that of you.”
Their eyes meet.
“I love her, Draco.”
“If you love her and if you loved her still, you will give up but you have been keeping all this time.”
“Draco.”
“Help her.” Draco said turning to the door. “I could only do as much. You have two days.”
Snape remained silent and unmoving.
"Whatever you did, whatever you two did - I am more than willing and capable to let it all go and forget it."
His black eyes turned up to her.
"Professor Lupin tells me that it's not going to be easy - that it can almost be unforgivable - but what has happened in the past - everything about it, we can no longer do anything about it. But we can change the future by what we have and how we deal with this present that we have."
"I don't understand-"
"Give me what we need."
“I have given you everything."
“You haven’t.” Draco said with a desperate tone in his voice. “As we both know, memories are not as reliable s they could be. I wouldn’t know, really. You wouldn’t. But we both know what she can do – what she has been capable of all these years but I believe in one thing.”
“One thing?”
“You love her too. Maybe in a different way, but you loved her. And above anyone else I know of you know her. You know her more than I ever knew her.”
“Draco-“
“I’m only her son.” Draco said opening the door to leave. “But you had a connection with her that even father wouldn’t ever have with her – not in a million of chances and years.”
Their eyes meet for the last time.
“You have two days. There must be something in there. Something – anything - between the two of you. Something in there that might help us all.”
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Forbidden Rapture