Life and Its Mysteries

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Chapter 10



“TEACHER AND STUDENT AT HOGWARTS HAD A SCANDALOUS AFFAIR!”



Just below the main headline, there was another headline that read, “Ronald Weasley in Azkaban - Rape Charges by Hermione Granger.”



Hermione groaned and set the paper down on the table, along with her muffin. She was in the middle of eating her breakfast, and suddenly lost her appetite. It was all because of the articles. She may have not read it, but had a feeling of how Skeeter did write them. In the first place, she thought that the rape article would be the main story, but she thought wrong.



The curiosity within Hermione though got the better of herself. Her eyes glance over at the paper, and caught a few lines in it.



“How many students has Professor Snape slept with in the past? Has he seduced other students into his bed?”



“Granger has been known for getting the best grades in her class. Has she done other things to get them, catching her teachers’ attentions?”



Hermione’s hand tightened around the coffee cup in her hand. Her fingertips and knuckles turned white at the strength of her grip. She was mad and furious, wanting to get her hands around Skeeter’s neck, and ring her to death.



Even though the reporter was so far from the truth, it affected her. She didn’t like to be talked about throughout the British wizarding world when it came to totally false and negative stories or rumors. In her mind, she prayed that the Skeeter bitch didn’t try to dig up into her private life, and find out about Tobi.



Tobi became a result of her relationship with Severus. It was a relationship in which she had no regrets about. She loved the man with all her heart and knew that he felt that same way about her as well. Apparently, they still had feelings for each other, feelings that had never faded. They had broken up for reasons unknown to her. He had his secrets in the past, and she had secrets as well, one being that he fathered her son.



Now, besides worrying for Tobi, she also worried for Severus. Again, like so many times in the past, he had been put down, with a wrong image. The man didn’t deserve such negativeness, or cruelness in his life anymore. Hasn’t he suffered enough? Hermione knew that Severus had a heart, and people just misread him a lot. He may have seemed different, but it didn’t mean he was a monster a single bit.



The coffee cup then shattered in Hermione’s hand, with some glass shards falling onto the table, and a few penetrating into her skin.



“Shit!” Hermione hissed as she opened her hand slowly, and looked at her bloody hand. She with her other hand she grabbed the napkin on her lap, wiping some of the blood off her hand.



She then took off the napkin and looked at the glass shards that were sticking out of her skin. With a clench of her jaw, she knew she had to take it out. First she handled the two small pieces, easily squeezing them out. The big one in the center of her palm was a different story. She held onto the shard, and held her breath, before pulling it out. When it was all done, she pressed the napkin on the deep gash with a good amount of pressure. After, Hermione wrapped the napkin around her hand tightly.



The stress was getting to her, she knew it. Coming to Britain seemed like a mistake. She needed to go back to New York for awhile, to escape from it all, and to spend time with Tobi. She could fly back to New York later on, and come back Monday morning. Hopefully, her team wouldn’t mind. She knew they would understand her.



First thing though, she had to talk to Severus. She glanced up at the wall clock. Breakfast in the Great Hall was about to finish soon. Hermione stood up, and grabbed her cane. She planned to meet Severus at the staff’s entrance at the back.



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Hermione was leaning against the wall with her back, her hands were in her pockets. She was more or less two feet away from the door. She was focusing at her feet and on the floor, trying to collect her thoughts. When she heard the door open, her head turned towards it.



The staff members that had exited nodded at Hermione and said their greetings for the morning. Hermione on the other hand just kept silent, giving them a slight nod.



“Hermione?” Severus questioned when he saw her. Behind him, were Albus and Minerva. The three of them approached her.



“There is nothing we could do Hermione,” Albus spoke. “All of us were hoping that it wouldn’t get out, but it did.”



“I’d like to speak with Severus alone please,” Hermione said softly.



“Of course,” Minerva said. “I will cover your first class since I have the period free.”



Severus nodded to them both, and watched them walk away momentarily before looking back at Hermione.



“My chambers?” Severus asked softly as he offered her his hand. They needed some privacy.



“Yeah,” Hermione said softly as she raised her hand up, placing it in his.



Immediately, Severus noticed the bloody napkin wrapped around her hand. “You,re bleeding badly,” he stated, looking at the soaked area of the piece of cloth, holding her wrist gently.



“It’s nothing Severus, really,” Hermione hissed slightly as he unwrapped it slowly and looked at the wound beneath it.



A gasp escaped Severus’s lips when he noticed how deep the scars were. “Luckily, you don’t need stitches. I can heal it with a few potions.” Soon enough, he led her downstairs to the dungeons.



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Severus watched Hermione from the corner of his eye as he remained seated on the couch next to her. His hands were busy mixing some potions and cold water in a small bowl that he set on the coffee table. He could tell that she was angry, disturbed, and stressed. There were bags starting to form beneath her eyes.



He too probably had the same emotions that she was feeling within her, but he was good at keeping them intact and to himself. It was hard to read him, as Hermione herself was more transparent. Most of the time, she never was one to hide her emotions.



“This is going to hurt,” he warned her as he placed her hand on his lap. He then dabbed a clean towel into the potion mix, and placed it into her hand, pressing against the bleeding wounds.



Hermione held her breath as she felt the sting build up into more pain, until she got used to the feeling of it.



“How did this happen?” Severus asked her softly.



Hermione shrugged. “It was an accident. I was holding the coffee cup so hard, that I broke it in my palm.”



“I don’t like you hurting yourself.”



“I wasn’t thinking. It just happened.”



“You should be more careful then,” Severus told her. He knew that she wasn’t the type to hurt herself deliberately. She always found a way to vent elsewhere.



About a minute had passed, and Severus had lifted the cloth from the wound. The gash had already closed and stopped bleeding. With a new, and cleaner towel, Severus wiped off the rest of the remaining blood on Hermione’s hand, making sure everything was clean.



Severus couldn’t help himself when he looked at Hermione’s small hand in his bigger hand. He slowly brought it up to his lips, kissing the sealed wound softly.



Hermione sighed softly and felt her heart flutter. Severus’s sweet and tender actions still took her breath away as it always had. When she looked into his eyes, she rubbed the corner of his lips with her thumb.



“Okay now?” Severus asked against her skin.



Hermione nodded.



He lowered her hand, keeping it on his lap when he started to speak. “So I take that you are here to talk to me about the articles in the paper?”



“I didn’t read it, because I didn’t have to. It was just supposed to be about me and Ron. Not about us. Whoever the contact was for Skeeter, I’m going to kill them.”



“It started with Weasley actually. He spoke to one of the prison guards in Azkaban. Then, you know what happened from there.”



Hermione pulled her hand away from Severus and crossed her arms over her chest as she huffed. “He really wants to ruin me doesn’t he,” she said feeling the tears of sadness build in her eyes even though she was really angry. “He raped me, which is already more than enough!”



“Calm down Petal,” Severus said, calling her by her pet name that he used years ago. He placed a hand on her lap, rubbing it to comfort her.



“I’m sorry.” Hermione shook her head. “I was actually worried about you. The story about us wasn’t what I wanted the public to find out, since everything that Skeeter wrote was false.”



Severus wrapped an arm around Hermione and pulled her to him. “You shouldn’t worry about me, but more, think about yourself.”



“But, what people will say about you. More cruel things-“



“Which means nothing to me. I am used to it Hermione, you know that.”



“It’s not who you are,” Hermione said softly.



Severus didn’t say anything and just kissed her temple. How could a woman such as Hermione ever love him? There was only very few in which he opened himself to, and to Hermione, he opened his heart to her. It was something that he had never done with anyone his entire life.



“I’m going to New York. I need some time away from everything here.”



“That’s understandable. You need it,” Severus said.



“I didn’t read your letter,” Hermione admitted, as she thought about it, and about Tobi. When Severus didn’t say anything in response, she spoke again. “Sev… I too have secrets of my own, that you might get really mad at me as well.” Hermione slowly turned to face and look at him, with worry. “You might even hate me.”



Severus cupped Hermione’s face in both of his hands. “I could never hate you… never.”



Hermione nodded, hoping that Severus was true to his word if he ever found out about Tobi one way or another. She also wondered if she could ever hate him. Thinking about the letter did bother her. What was so bad that Severus couldn’t tell her himself?



“Hermione, am I going to cover your rounds for you?” Bill asked over the radio.



“Shit!” Hermione muttered as Severus’s hands slid off her face. She then reached for her radio and then answered back. “I’ll do them in a bit.”



“Duty calls,” Severus said with a smile. He was slightly disappointed, that Hermione had to leave.



They potion vials on the coffee table caught Hermione’s attention. They were indeed Severus’s as he always had most of his personal vials customized. The crystal glass was anything but normal shaped as it had a snake coil around it, along with Severus’s initials at the bottom.



Hermione reached for one of them and asked, “Can I keep it?” She was actually planning to give it to Tobi, since he had his own small connection. Severus’s vial was going to be an addition to it, knowing that he would like or even love it.



A brow cocked up on Severus’s face, as he looked at Hermione curiously. Why would she want to keep it? Not bothering to ask why, he just answered her with a nod.



“If I don’t see you later, I’ll see you soon enough.” Hermione gave him a small kiss on his lips, loving the way it felt against hers when he kissed back.



A little while later, when Severus was all alone, he looked up at the clock on the mantle. He had to get back to work.



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AN – New York and Tobi in the next chapter. And not to worry, we are getting closer to the contents of the letter. Review!