She knocked on the door leading into his office, and waited. Hermione was scared. Would he be angry? Would he ignore her? After five minutes, the latter seemed correct as no one had appeared to open the door. She turned away, eyes burning to cry and disappointed.
"Miss Granger?"
Hermione turned. Snape was standing at the door, scowling.
"Can I come in?" Hermione asked, afraid.
Snape stepped to the side and she hurried in before he closed the door.
"Sit." He said.
Hermione obeyed and slid into the nearest chair. Snape sighed and sat on the other side of the desk, in his own chair.
"What is it?" He said.
Hermione did not know where to start. All she had wanted was to see him again. She suddenly felt very embarrassed.
"Miss Granger, I have assignments to mark. Do you plan on wasting my time for much longer?" He said.
His voice was filled with spite, and Hermione winced, but his words had the appropriate effect, and she began to speak.
"Professor… You've been avoiding me, haven't you?"
"My world, fortunately, does not revolve around you, Miss Granger."
His words stung her, but she did not cry.
"You're angry with me." She merely said.
"Miss Granger, you really are wasting my time."
"Then throw me out! Order me to leave and I will! I'll leave and not come back." Hermione said, bolting upright.
"Miss Granger, I am not about to let you go back into the Muggle World, you are in no condition to look after yourself, let alone your daughter as well." He said coolly, refusing to look her in the eye.
"Then I'll leave her with you."
"Miss Granger, do you even know what you are saying?" Snape snarled, standing.
"I know what I am doing. You may hate me, but you don't hate her. I know it. She talks about you all the time. She'd be happier here than following me around the world, trying to keep out of the clutches of the Order." Tears formed at the corners of Hermione's eyes, threatening to overflow.
"Miss Granger, stop acting so foolishly!" He said, approaching her.
Hermione backed away from him, into the door.
"Harry and Ron won't mention your name in front of me. Something's wrong. I've known it, but nobody will admit it. You know it hurts me to be alone."
"You're best friends have been looking after you quite well." He countered.
"But they have their own lives! I can't stop them from going back to Auror training, it makes me feel so… so guilty!"
"And I must come and answer to your beck and call?" Snape said angrily.
"I never said that! Remus has been assuring me that you would come and visit. That's all I wanted! For you to come and see me. Or, if you refused to acknowledge me, let me see you. Just once in a while… I keep remembering… and nobody knows… nobody cares… they all think that I'm fine, that I'm recovering. But I still have nightmares, I still wake up wishing I were dead!"
"Miss Granger, your death would only hurt others around you—"
"Why do you think I haven't thrown myself off the Astronomy tower yet?" Hermione snapped.
There was only silence. Hermione's hand finally found the door handle and she tumbled out of the room backwards and bolted. She ran back to her rooms and packed her bags, stopping only to place a quick kiss on Serena's forehead before leaving in a sprint.
However, she had barely made it past the gates when she was grabbed from behind. Her shriek died on her lips. The moon illuminated Snape's angry features and she saw herself reflected in his eyes.
"Miss Granger, this is ridiculous."
"As ridiculous as feeling the person you love above everything else hate you?" Hermione said spitefully.
"Did I ever say that?"
Hermione blinked stuidly.
"Is there a factual basis for your belief that I hate you?"
Hermione waited almost a whole minute before shaking her head.
"You looked so angry in the Hospital Wing…" She said weakly.
"I was angry, Miss Granger. For Merlin's sake, I failed you. I failed the Order! I promised I would bring you and Serena back safe and sound. You were both safe but you were hardly sound in the head. I should have been more cautious. I had let down my guard. I only had enough time to realise you had been stunned before I, too, had been stunned. Then to watch him use you like a puppet and be completely incapable to stop him… If it were not for the Order, Merlin knows how that day might have ended! But they had arrived too late. They had set me free, and in a moment of madness, I lashed out, but my spell hit you…"
Snape let go of Hermione and covered his face with his hands.
"My spell had hit you instead. The look of horror on everyone's faces. They had been barely able to restrain me from killing Lucius. I had been very close…" A strange smirk appeared on his lips.
"And then… to find out that you had gone willingly to him..." He cleared his throat. "It hurt me more than I was willing to admit, even to myself. So I avoided you. I was angry at you at first, but then only at myself. I knew that you were looking for me, but I recoiled from it. Everyday you looked more and more tense and tired, but Potter and Weasley, those incompetent fools, didn't even notice. I hadn't expected you to appear. When you did, I felt childishly angry again."
"You have a right to." Hermione interrupted quietly.
"Don't go… Don't make me have to come search for you again. Don't break your daughter's heart; our daughter's heart."
Snape wiped away the tears on Hermione's face. She trembled and her resolve left her. She walked into his welcoming embrance, and he held her tightly, almost crushing her, as though he felt she would disappear any second.
"Show me." Hermione whispered.
"What?" Snape asked, sounding puzzled.
"That you love me." Hermione said, smiling.
The moonlight reflected the joy in her eyes, and something inside him melted away. He kissed her softly and then led her back into the school, into the dungeons, and into his life.
Author's note (10/04/07):
I am very sorry for my lack of consistency in updating. I have revamped this chapter, but in reality, I had forgotten to set this fic as being complete - apologies again.
The last chapter is finally done and dusted after several renovations (I hope it was sweet enough for everyone - I can't cope with writing anything sweeter...). I have already started a sequel, which will be posted as soon as possible. Please review. I love all of my readers really, but I love my reviewers even more .
Thank you very much for everyone's continued support!
-- blossomedangel--
Disclaimer:
I do not own any of the characters in this story, which was inspired by J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. I do not claim any ownership of anything that may be recognised as part of the published Harry Potter books. However, the plot is rightly mine and mine alone.