[Misery Loves Company]

Stunned he sat there with all eyes on him and hating it.  He'd never been one to like attention drawn to him.  When he looked up, normally overfriendly and sickeningly pleasant, Philius Flitwick was charging towards him.  Bugger.  He was in for a talking to.

"Philius," Severus muttered in resignation.

"Severus, do you know what subject I teach?"

Confusion and then irritation passed trough Severus' eyes.  There must be a point somewhere in this verbal meandering, but one could never now with Flitwick.  He does have a penchant for eccentricities.  Could one really expect a meaningful conversation from a man that wears a pink bathing cap with yellow plastic daisies during his bathing ritual?

Severus frowned.  "I should hope so.  Considering I spent seven years in a desk flicking my wand about for your critical eye.  And another dozen or so in staff meetings listening to you go on about your treatise of a syllabus."

Flitwick's stern face cracked a little.  "You never were one for wand-waving, were you?"

"No, I suppose I wasn't," Severus conceded less harshly.  Respect your elders, Severus.  Respect your elders.  "Not to be short with you, but is there a point to this line of questioning?"

"My point, Severus, is that if you don't go after her you will find out just how different second year curriculum was during my schooling days."

Ha!  The loophole he needed.  Now what did he learn up until his second year that would be useful to put Wexler in his place?

"Severus!"  Flitwick squeaked impatiently.

"Oh, yes, sorry."

"You do know that she has yet to complete the tenure ritual.  The purpose of this little jaunt in the woods was to make sure that Hogwarts was what she wanted."

He'd forgotten that.  He had completed the ritual so long ago.  Never before did he consider Philius' unsaid implications – what if she left?"

"I'm sorry, Philius," he said hurriedly collecting himself.  "I must go."

"That's my boy, Severus."  Flitwick smiled as Severus swept off after Hermione.

Sitting under the rays of pale moonlight Hermione forgot how long she had been sitting there – seconds, minutes, hours.  It felt like days.  Maybe it wasn't too late to take the job Arthur Weasley had offered, she asked herself.  But that wasn't her dream.  Was her dream worth this unbearable sinking feeling?  Under the stark moon she vowed to herself she wouldn't make a mistake like this again.  She'd keep her lips and feelings safely guarded and focus on her students.  Just absolutely no more kissing.

A rustling of dried leaves to her left gave her a small start.  She lacked the energy to lift her head to find out who the unwelcome visitor was, not caring if it were friend or foe.

Black shoes.  Black robes.  Hope flooded her.

"Severus?"  Hermione whispered, glittering eyes lifting up the figure.

"Sorry to disappoint my dear."

Absently she chided herself.  The flannel dressing gown beneath the robes should have tipped her off.  Already she was ready to throw out the promises she made to herself moments before.

"Oh, no, Albus…" she started with a rush still getting used to addressing the headmaster as anything other than that.  Add the extra embarrassment of the evening and she was closely on the verge of burying her head in some comforting, warm sand and never showing her face again.

"I know what you were meaning."

"I've made a bit of a mess of things, haven't I?"

"Nothing that won't work itself out."

"Made such a fool of myself and Severus."

"No you haven't.  Severus is a bit temperamental."  Hermione laughed sadly.  Bit.  That's like saying the catacombs are a tad old or the sun a smidge warm.  "You just need to have a little more patience with him.  He's never had an easy life, Hermione, and isn't used to having someone take interest in him for unselfish reasons.  And I daresay anyone has every tried to play a joke on him.  He's set in his ways and will need more time to come around."

Hermione nodded, drawing her knees up to her chest, resting her head and arms on them.

"Think about that for a little before you make any decisions.  I'll leave you to your thoughts, but don't say away for too long.  It mightn't be safe out here."

"Thank you, Albus," she murmured as he took his leave.

She let her eyes fall shut as sleepiness niggled her brain.  The bone chilling cold could not stop impending sleep from taking over.

His heart stopped when he saw her sitting in the twilight.  She was an artist's dream in startling reality – a vision of an angel resting from a trying day.  The tremor of a shiver broke his reverie and he took notice of how cold the night had become.  She'd catch herself a death of cold.

He unclasped his cloak and shrouded it around her small form, enveloping her in warm wool.  He hoisted her slight body into his arms and she stirred only momentarily before tucking her head close to his shoulder.

When he had carried her back to the temporary campsite everyone else had gone to sleep.  He settled her into the sleeping bag that Minerva and Albus had transfigured.  Her head stirred from the pillow and she called out a name.  Not his name.

"Jude."  His back stiffened and the close proximity was stifling.  This was probably his penance he realized.  "I'm mad at you," she whispered, dreamily and he relaxed a little.  At least she wasn't asking him, thinking he was Jude, to stay with her.  Hermione's head slipped back down firmly on the pillow and he watched her a little longer.  His hand brushed a lock of hair from her face and she moved into his touch.

"Kiss me," she breathed against his fingers.

His lips touched hers ever so slightly.  "I wish it was I that you wanted," he said softly before leaving.

She smiled in her sleep and whispered, shortly after his departure, "Thank you, Severus."

The deeper she slept the worse her dreams became.  The day's events replayed in her sleep like a scratched record.

"I don't think I want to do this anymore, Jude.  Severus won't like this," Hermione told him, handing the sticks back to him.  He refused them, pushing them back into her hands. 

"Come on, Hermione.  Just think of it as pay back for all the times he was a miserable git in class." 

Before she could protest any further Jude had begun the game.

"You know, Hermione," Jude started out loudly enough for Severus to hear, "before I studied at Hogwarts my family lived in the States.  When I was little I was a nature scout and we went camping in the woods like these all the time."  He went on with great exaggeration.  She was only half listening as she tried to think of some sort of a way out of this mess.

"Our wilderness guide taught us a full proof plan to keep bears away.  Now I know what your thinking, Hermione, love," Hermione's ears burned with his use of affectionate language.  She didn't like it coming from him.  "Why not just use magic to keep them away?  First, we wouldn't want any muggles stumbling upon us when casting and second, the Ministry strictly forbade us from using our magic on any non-magical creatures."

"So, you do like this."  He clapped the sticks together loudly three or four times.  "Now just do what I do and we'll prevent the bears from getting close."  Hermione didn't move and Jude stepped in front of her, blocking Severus from her view.  He clapped her sticks together and proclaimed proudly, "Smashing, Hermione.  Just like a pro.  Let's start on this side."

He tugged her behind the tree and watched as Severus picked up two sticks, looking at them suspiciously before testing them.  Hermione cringed as she saw Severus walk off in the other direction – sticks in hand.

"It worked," Jude hooted wildly.  Could anyone be more juvenile?  She should have stopped Severus.  He was going to make a fool of himself and it was all her fault.  Belatedly she realized Jude was pulling her through the stretch of trees and she saw Severus confidently warding off bears.  God, she cried to herself, do something to stop him.  Immediately she took that statement back when Albus came into view and walked up to Severus.

The snippets of conversation made her sick with regret.

"What are you doing, Severus?"  Albus asked curiously.

Severus looked at the sticks in his hands and then to the headmaster.  The headmaster's eyes telling him all he needed to know.

"Not going to keep the bears away, are they?"  He asked ruefully.  Albus simply shook his head.  Hermione turned away, not being able to stand the mixed look of betrayal and anger in Severus' frown.  That was her second mistake in the last hour, because she stepped on a branch that cracked under her weight, drawing both Albus and Severus to her and Jude.  Severus' eyes flicked to her.  He turned in disgust, black robes billowing behind him.

Hermione jerked awake, dazed that she was lying in her sleeping bag.  How did I get here?  She pulled the unfamiliar black cloak with its familiar scent tighter around her like a protective shield and settled back into more pleasant dreams with the hopes that things would be better in the morning.