Home Sweet Home?

Plot summary: Hermione’s home is attacked by Voldemort at the end of her 6th year, and her parents killed, but not by whom you’d think! Where will she go for the summer holidays? May not seem very original at first, but I promise you, there will be an added twist at some point in the near future! A Severus and hermione romance in the later chapters.

Warning: This fic contains mature themes such as violence, rape, death and sexual relations between consenting adults. May also contain involuntary slash at some point. You have been warned! Rating will be PG-13 for the moment but will earn its R rating in future chapters.

Professor Severus Snape was not a happy man. Far from it. He stood in Dumbledore’s personal waiting room; a solitary figure pacing the room in long strides like a hawk circling for pray. Snape was alone in the room, and the only noise that could be heard was that of his thick, heavy black robes swishing satisfactorily as he walked.

*How bloody cliché,* he thought, before stopping abruptly as a wracking sob was issued from one of the occupants behind the closed door. He lent his slightly clammy forehead against the coolness of the stone wall before him, and closed his eyes fervently, as his hands clenched into tight fists, which would doubtlessly have drawn blood, has his nails been long enough.

On the contrary to popular belief, Severus Snape was resolutely clean and hygienic, and he never let a day pass without performing his ritual of cleaning. Snape’s ears pricked up as he heard a continuous pattern of sobs emerge from the locked door.

Suddenly, pulling him out of his self-pitting daydream, he heard a large bolt being drawn back, and the thick oak door of Dumbledore’s private office was thrown open. At the threshold stood Dumbledore himself, his expression uncharacteristically grave, and the usual twinkle in his eyes was gone. Snape quickly straightened, adjusting his robes, and looked expectantly at the man before him.

“Ah, Severus, I thought you would be waiting,” said the headmaster of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry; Albus Dumbledore, his astonishingly blue eyes looking scarily blank. “I’m sure you will be relieved to hear that our, er, guest is, apart from being understandably distraught, fine.”

As he spoke these words, Severus let out a breath he had not been aware he had been holding, and Professor Minerva McGonagall appeared at Dumbledore’s shoulder.



“Severus,” she whispered. “She wants to see you.” Snape nodded his consent, and looked towards Dumbledore, as if seeking assurance. Albus let the faint flicker of a smile wander across his face, before stepping aside form the door, in a gesture to let Severus past.

Snape took a deep breath and stepped into Dumbledore’s deliciously warm office, ready to face whatever was coming. Past his gaze, Minerva looked briefly and nervously at Dumbledore, who replied with a sly smile and a nod. A smile creeping across her features, she slipped silently out of the room.