Saving your life

She saw him leave the bathroom, still breathing hard, and she stepped out of the shower, careful not to slip. She walked after him, wrapping a towel around her body on the way, and by the time, she entered the room he was already half dressed.

“Why?” she asked, standing by the door

“Why what?” he said coldly, not even looking at her.

“Why do you have to go back?”

“Because it’s my job, and it needs to be done.”

“If I hadn’t found you, you would be dead by now,” she whispered, trying to understand.

“Probably, but that doesn’t change anything. You and your friends still need the information only I can provide. There are things more important than life or death.”

She wanted to tell him so many things. She didn’t want him to go, to leave her there alone. She didn’t want him to risk his life again like that, but still she knew he was right; he was the only one that could help and they needed it. It wasn’t fair, he should have a choice but there wasn’t any.

Resigned, she looked at him again, as she whispered, “Be careful.”

He turned around and stared at her, his face expressionless but his eyes uneasy, searching her face for some kind of explanation to her words. There was none.

He finished getting dressed in silence, and she stood there as he did, unsure of what to do next.

“I have to go now, and you should go back to your friends,” he said “you won’t be safe until things go back to normal between the Dark Lord and me.”

She saw something in his eyes then, something that looked like concern, but the next second it was gone, replaced by his usual cold look and with a loud pop he Apparated away.

The memory of what she had felt when she had found him came back to her, and a cold shiver ran through her spine. She couldn’t go through that again.

The moment she had seen him laying on the floor fear had paralyzed her, and it took her everything she had to step closer, afraid of what she would find. After the first few seconds, logic had taken over, thankfully.

After checking that he was still alive and moving him to the bed, she had carefully taken off his clothes, trying to see why he was bleeding so much, and she gasped loudly when she saw it. Some cuts were superficial, but others were really deep, and there was barely an inch of skin unharmed. It had taken hours to brew the first potions, but finally she had managed to stop the bleeding. The healing potions would take care of some of the wounds, but it wasn’t enough.

As she had told him, the main problem had been the fever, and she’d had no idea what to do about that. She knew she couldn’t take him to the hospital, he would be sent to Azkaban if someone found him, or worse, and so she had spent hours in the library, trying to find something that could help him while she heard him screaming in the bedroom. She was pretty sure he was speaking, but she couldn’t understand what he was saying. Every now and then, she caught words like Master or trap, but that was all.

The hours she had spent sitting next to him, waiting to see if he woke up, going through his books trying to find some potion that would help him and then trying to keep her pulse steady as she brewed it, scared she would make it worse if she messed up had been hell. She had finally resorted to the only Muggle remedy she could think of, cold water. Surprisingly, it seemed to work. She had been so relieved when he had finally woken up.

He had seemed a bit confused at first; he didn’t seem to remember much of what had happened. She had been afraid he would be mad at her for going to the house looking for him, but he hadn’t said a word about it. Instead, he had asked for her help with some potions he needed. He had even thanked her for helping him.

Shaking the memories away, she slowly made her way back to the bathroom, where she had left her clothes, and after getting dressed and drying her hair she did as told and Apparated back at headquarters.

Shortly after finding Snape she had owled them, telling them she would be away a day or two, because she didn’t want them worked up and looking for her, but still as she entered the house she heard Mrs Weasley sigh loudly in relief. That woman never stopped worrying. She was instantly dragged into the kitchen, where the rest of the family and Harry were having dinner. He and Ron eyed her suspiciously, but said nothing.

She ate in a hurry, but waited politely until everyone else was finished before finally getting up and walking up the stairs. She heard footsteps behind her and prepared herself for what was to come, leaving the door to her room wide open and sitting on the bed. Harry and Ron walked in seconds later and closed the door behind them.

“You look terrible,” Ron said

“I know.” She hadn’t slept in over two days, too worried about Snape to leave his bedside.

“You told my mother you were visiting your parents,” he continued

“I didn’t want her to worry, Ron.”

“Well, I won’t lie to her for you again. What if something had happened to you? We didn’t even know where to find you.”

“I know,” she repeated, looking down at her hands

“We’ve been friends for years, Hermione, and we trust each other. At least that’s what I thought until now.”

“I do trust you, Harry, both of you, but…” her voice trailed off

“What have you gotten yourself into, Hermione?” he asked, both suddenly worried. “Are you in some kind of trouble?”

She took a few seconds before answering “No, I… I don’t know,” she sighed, “the only thing that matters is that I’m doing it to help you, Harry, to help all of us get rid of Voldemort.”

“You’re scaring me, Hermione,” Ron whispered, “what are you up to? Where does all the information about the Death Eaters come from?”

“We’ve been through this already, and I explained it has to remain a secret, at least for now.”

“We won’t tell anyone, you know it,” they both insisted

“I know, but I’d be in grave danger if anyone knew, even you two.” She hated lying to them, but she knew it was the only way they’d stop asking.

“If you were in danger or needed our help you’d tell us, right?” Harry asked, locking eyes on her.

“Of course. I’d trust you with my life and you know it, but this isn’t just about me. When the time comes I’ll tell you everything, and I hope you’ll understand.”

They stared at her suspiciously, and Ron started asking something, but thankfully, Ginny chose that moment to enter the room. She walked over to her bed and then looked at the three of them carefully.

“Am I interrupting anything?”

“No, we were just leaving, goodnight,” they answered.

“Goodnight Harry, Ron,” Hermione said, smiling faintly at them.

As they left Ginny sat down next to Hermione.

“It looked like you needed to be alone.”

“I do, thank you.”

“You’ve been acting strange lately and they’re worried about you. We all are. Are you ok?” she asked

“Yeah, I know. I’m just tired, that’s all. A few hours’ sleep and I’ll be myself again,” she lied, changing into her nightgown and slipping under the covers.

Tired as she was she couldn’t sleep; she kept thinking about Snape, wondering where he was and if he was alright.

There was no fooling herself anymore. She might have thought it was just a silly crush at first, but now she knew she really felt something for him. She knew it the second she found him, knew it by the way her entire body shook with fear when she thought he was dead, as she touched him, trying to see if he was breathing. She wasn’t sure exactly what it was yet, but she knew it was something she hadn’t felt before.

‘But what about him?’ she asked herself. She had no idea what he felt about her. He wanted her that much she could tell from the way he looked at her, the way he touched her, kissed her, but was there anything else? The man was a mystery, that’s all she knew for sure.
He was nice to her at times, and when he was like that, he made her feel he cared about her, as if she was important. She felt safe with him. Then, when she least expected it, he was cold again, acting like he was trying to hurt her on purpose. That man had her mystified.

It was with those thoughts in mind that she finally fell asleep, the sun already shining through the window. She woke to the sound of Ginny getting dressed, only a few hours later, and decided she too should head down for breakfast. Better act normal, she thought to herself. She certainly didn’t need any more attention.

Yawning she walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, careful to choose a place to sit as far from Harry and Ron as she could without being too obvious.
She wasn’t hungry, so after nibbling absentmindedly on a toast for a few minutes she made her way to the library, saying she wanted to look something up in one of the books. She was glad the excuse still worked.

As she was searching the shelves, trying to decide what book she would read she heard footsteps behind her, and she turned around, expecting to find one of her friends with fresh questions she couldn’t answer, but there was no one there.

Thinking she was probably so tired, she was imagining things she went back to finding a book when she felt something tug on her dress. She turned around again, starting to feel scared when she was pushed flat against the shelves by an invisible force. She tried to scream for help, but soon a hand covered her mouth and then a familiar face appeared out of thin air. Snape looked at her, an evil grin on his face as he lifted the invisibility cloak he was wearing and covered her too with it.

“Don’t scream,” he whispered before nibbling her earlobe, making her moan. She couldn’t believe the way her body responded to him.

She nodded and he removed his hand from her mouth, replacing it with his lips for a brief kiss.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, trying to think clearly.

“I needed to speak to you, there’s…”

They both stiffened and fell silent as they heard voices approaching. She could see over his shoulder Harry and Ron walking into the library and sitting by the chess set.

“I thought Hermione said she’d be here,” she heard Harry say looking around.

“She did. Maybe she went back to bed; she looked like she hadn’t slept for weeks.”

“I’m really worried about her, you know. We have to do something.”

“Like what, follow her around to see what she’s doing? We can’t do that.”

“I know, but we can’t just…” she never heard the rest of the words, too distracted by the hand slowly moving up her thigh.

She tried to stop him, make him remove his hand, but he just pushed her harder against the shelves, his lips on her neck.

“Stop that, they’ll hear us,” she hissed

“Then you’ll have to keep very quiet,” he whispered back as his hand reached her knickers, pushing them aside.

“No, please. If they find you here…”

“You can’t fool me,” he said, in a voice that made her knees tremble “I can feel how aroused you are. The thought of being here with me, your friends so close,” he slipped a finger inside her and she had to bite her arm to stop from groaning. She threw her head back when his thumb moved over her clit, biting her lip.

“What would they think, if they saw you here, writhing under your former professor’s touch?” she didn’t know why, but she found his words incredibly arousing. The risk of being found out, of knowing she was doing something forbidden, and right under their noses. It was too much.

He muffled her moans with his mouth as her orgasm hit her, his fingers trapped inside of her as her hips buckled. Before she even had time to calm down, she felt him opening his trousers, and then lifting her high up, while moving her legs around his waist. She could feel his erection against her core, barely touching, teasing her as his lips found hers again in a heated kiss. She couldn’t take it anymore and she pushed herself down on him, making him hiss and pull her hips closer.

“Did you hear something?” she heard one of her friends ask, she didn’t even know which one. She could feel the shelves behind her back, the books moving with every thrust, and she could only pray they wouldn’t fall. There was no stopping now.

Her fingers were aching from gripping his shoulders hard as he moved faster and deeper inside of her. She knew her friends were there, knew they’d find them if they made any noise, but keeping silent was getting harder by the minute.

She felt herself tense again, the pleasure spreading through her body, and she knew he was feeling the same. Without breaking the kiss they both came, muffled groans and ragged breaths the only sound as their bodies slowed down.

After just a few seconds, he took her hand and they slowly walked to the main door, making sure the cloak covered them both. After checking no one was around, she opened it and stepped out.

“There was something you needed to tell me,” she whispered, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

“Yes. The Death Eaters that were arrested in Grimmauld Place.”

“What abut them?” she asked

“Make sure they send them to Azkaban.”

“What? Why? The ministry no longer sends Death Eaters there, they won’t risk them escaping.”

“I know that, but they have to send them there, it’s important.”

She looked at him for a few moments. “I’m not sure I can do that, I don’t have that kind of influence.”

“But you know people who do.”

“I’ll try,” she finally said.

“Good. By the way, you forgot Potter’s cloak in my house yesterday, figured you’d want it back.”

“Thank you,” she said, smiling.

“You still have the parchment I gave you?”

“Yes.”

“Use it if you need to contact me. You can’t go back to my house unless I tell you to, no matter what.”

“Ok” she said, looking down at her feet. She felt his finger on her chin, and as she lifted her face, she felt his lips on hers once more. After a few seconds, he took a step back and Apparated away.

She took a deep breath and walked back inside, taking the cloak off only when she reached her bedroom. How on earth was she supposed to get those men sent there?

She lay down on the bed and quickly fell asleep, with a worried frown and a sated smile.