Chapter 1 Heartbreak

"I can't believe Ron did this to me," Hermione said, her voice wavering as she cut up Valerian root.

Her Master, professor Severus Snape said nothing as he tended a steaming cauldron. Hermione had been his apprentice for three years now, and they had a good working relationship, although Snape was a wizard of very few words.

"Not only was he cheating on me with Lavender, but he's gotten her pregnant," the witch said as Snape moved to the next cauldron.

Tears began to stream down Hermione's face as she fought to hold them in. She stepped back from the work area so she wouldn't contaminate the ingredients. Snape looked over at her, but returned to his cauldrons.

"I wish there was some potion that could ease a broken heart," Hermione sniffed.

"There is no such potion, Hermione," Snape said softly in response as he stirred a brew clockwise with a pewter spoon.

"She came right to our flat, big-bellied and everything and told me she was carrying Ron's love-child, professor. And Ron couldn't deny it. I feel like my entire world has ended. I can't divorce him either," she said softly, drying her eyes with the sleeve of her robes.

Once again, Snape offered nothing, but walked to yet another cauldron, opening the lid and gently waving the scent of it up to his large nose with one hand. His lank hair was tied back in a ponytail so it wouldn't interfere with his work.

Hermione stood there for a moment, her eyes filling as she thought about the future. The shame of being married to a man who had a child outside his marriage, the hurt of having another woman conceive a child for him before she did. The fact that Ron found another woman to meet his needs.

True, she did spend a lot of time with Snape, but she was his apprentice and the time was required. She arrived home late quite a bit to find a sullen Ron waiting for her.

Then, about a year ago, she came home to find him not there. He said he had been out at the pub that first time, then, the next time he claimed to be out with friends she wasn't familiar with . . . Chudley Cannon fans. They had a big row about it with Ron ending the argument with saying she spent all her time with Snape and coming home when she felt like it . . . so he was entitled to do the same, or not even come home at all.

She told him it would be different once Snape signed off on her apprenticeship. Then, she would be a full-fledged Potions mistress and have normal working hours once she found a position. She asked him to be patient, but Ron wasn't the patient type. He'd been raised by a woman who was always home, always there to care for her family first. But Hermione Granger was nothing like his mother, he knew that when he married her, but he had hoped she'd catch on . . . even change. But, she didn't.

Lavender acted more the wife to Ron than Hermione did, cooking for him, drawing his bath, doting on him, treating him like a king. She made him feel as if he were the most important person in her life. She didn't care if he were married to Hermione. In Lavender's opinion, Hermione's priorities were all wrong. Besides, husbands and wives might not divorce, but they left each other every day. She could still steal him, especially since he had no children with Hermione.

Lavender had gotten pregnant on purpose to destroy their marriage.

She succeeded.

Ron had moved out last night and gone straight to her flat, abandoning his wife, and Hermione was devastated. Still, she decided the best thing to do was act normally, do what she usually did, which was go to Hogwarts and do her work. It was Saturday, so Snape worked with her, having no classes to conduct.

When Hermione told him during her first year of apprenticeship that she and Ron were getting married, the only thing he said to her was that serving as an apprentice was time-consuming and not conducive to a happy married life. But, Hermione was headstrong and believed she could juggle it.

She had been wrong. Now, she had lost her husband.

She stood there in silence, darkness, hopelessness and a supreme sense of failure washing over her. Hermione wasn't used to failure. Then . . . something inside just . . .broke.

"There may not be a potion to ease a broken heart, but there are potions that will take the pain away," she said softly to the wizard's back. "Excuse me, professor."

Hermione left the lab.

Snape, who was stirring the cauldron, slowed his actions as he considered her words. Suddenly, he dropped the ladle and bolted out of the lab, running for his stores. He saw the door open and flew inside, just in time to knock the bottle Hermione was tilting toward her lips out of her hand.

It was a potent poison.

Silently, Snape looked down at the shattered bottle, then at Hermione, who blinked up at him.

"Why did you do that?" she asked him brokenly. "I can't stand this pain, professor. My husband's left me. I can't live with the pain or the shame. I feel so empty, such a failure. He doesn't want me. I've lost him. I've lost everything."

"He's not worth it," Snape said, his dark eyes resting on her face, her eyes filled with pain and unshed tears. "You've lost nothing. You're stronger than this. I know you are."

"But why? Why did he do it, Severus?"

"He's a fool, Hermione."

"I'm the fool," Hermione said, "I should have seen this coming. I should have put Ron first and this would never have happened. If I weren't so selfish, wanting to be a Potions mistress and been the wife he wanted, he wouldn't have left me. Obviously, Lavender gave him what he needed . . . what I was too stupid to give him . . ."

"Stop it," Snape hissed.

"I should have paid more attention to him . . ."

"Stop it."

"I should have been there when he came home from the Ministry with dinner on the table . . ."

"Stop it."

"I should have given up my dreams to live his . . ."

Snape suddenly grabbed Hermione by the shoulders and shook her roughly.

"He . . . never . . . deserved . . . you!" he declared in a strained voice, his pale face contorted. "He was . . . beneath you. He could never . . . never understand you!"

Suddenly, Snape drew her close and kissed her, his lips soft, hungry and desperate. He broke the kiss, looked down at the startled, disheveled witch and released her shoulders.

"I'm . . . I'm sorry," he said softly. "I . . . I shouldn't have done that . . ."

Hermione stared up at him, then suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him back down into another kiss, this one much more passionate, her tongue invading his mouth, also hungry, also desperate.

Snape wrapped his arms around the witch and lifted her, giving as good as he got, reveling in the sweetness of their connection. He moved from her mouth to her throat, Hermione flinging her head back and wrapping her legs around his waist.

"Make me feel better, Severus. Make me forget what's happened. Make me forget what a shambles my life's become for just a little while. Help me . . . please . . ." she sobbed as he found her mouth again. He could taste the salt of her tears.

Still kissing the witch, Snape carried her out of the potions stores, through the lab, through the classroom, down the short corridor, into his office and through the wall that opened on his private quarters.

A/N: Just something that came to me. A quiet Snape and a needy Hermione. Most likely it will be a little two or three chapter PWP. Thanks for reading.