Love is Blind

Chapter 12

Severus guided Hermione out of the Three
Broomsticks. He was holding one hand, guiding her with his other hand placed at
the small of her back, his fingers unconsciously drawing small circles there. Severus
couldn’t believe the audacity of Black. He had not been that angry at anyone
since the downfall of Voldemort. He could have easily maimed him, if not killed
him. Looking back at it, Severus smiled to himself at the picture of Sirius
Black pinned against the wall under his hand. He still had it; he could still
make grown men shake in fear. He couldn’t help but think of how Gryffindor it
had been on Black to be so bold, or more accurately, foolish to confront him.
His thoughts were interrupted by a slight squeeze of his hand by Hermione.

“Severus?”

“Yes, love?”

“Are you all right?”

“Yes, I am fine. I am sorry for the way I reacted to
Black.”

She smiled, “You don’t need to apologize, I wouldn’t
have expected less from you.”

“What do you mean by that, Miss Granger?”

“Just that you are set in your ways. You have a
temper, with a short fuse, and I know you aren’t fond of Sirius anyway. I am
actually surprised that no curses were thrown. I didn’t think you would
naturally resort to a physical altercation, rather than using your wand.”

He chuckled, “Don’t you remember my speech at the
beginning of your first year about ‘foolish wand waving?’ I like to have my
hands into things, take potions for example. I can create a potion from
beginning to end, and make it do whatever I want it to, just by what
ingredients I use. No magic necessary.”

“That is a very ‘Muggle’ way of thinking about it,”
she smiled as he guided her to a bench in the square. “I have a question
though. If you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to.

“It’s about Black last comment, right?”

“Yes. Was he talking about Lily Potter?”

“It was Lily Evans then, and yes, he was. You see,
she and I dated throughout most of our fifth and sixth years. Then Black jumped
in and told her that I was a Death Eater in training and was just trying to
lure her into a trap.” He sighed, “she broke it off shortly after, and the rest
is, as they say, history.”

“Severus, is that why you hated Harry?”

“No, love. I never hated Harry. It just hurt to look
at him. I loved Lily and to see him just reminded me of her. I hated that I was
indebted to James for saving me from Lupin, but I still watched over the boy. I
was so angry at myself at still being affected by her twenty years later that ook ook my pain out on Harry.”

Hermione raised her hand to Severus’ face and gently
stroked his cheek with her thumb. “She was your first love, wasn’t she?”

“Yes, she was. We tutored each other in Charms and
Potions. I wasn’t a Death Eater in training. I was a Slytherin and most people
thought just because of the house affiliation, it was inevitable for me to
follow Voldemort. When she believed Sirius over me, she ripped my heart out. It
wasn’t until a year later that I even looked into the idea of becoming a Death
Eater. I felt rejected by the world and alone - Voldemort offered me praise,
companionship, and love, or at least his idea of love. That’s when I entered
the fold. I promise you though; I was not there on that Halloween. The day
after the attack on the Potters, I went to Dumbledore and confessed. He took me
under his wing. I hated the idea of Voldemort and the Death Eaters, but you
can’t get rid of the Dark Mark. When he returned at the end of your fourth
year, I had to go to him lest I would die. That is when my life of espionage started.”

Hermione wrapped her arms around his waist and
hugged him as hard as she could. “Oh, Severus,” she whispered. Her voice seemed
strained, like she wanted to cry. Severus wrapped his arms around her and held
her to him. When he had loved Lily Evans twenty-five years ago, he never
thought he could love something more. That was until a few days ago, when
another beautiful Gryffindor stole his heart. He looked down at the woman in
his arms and smiled. He softly brushed his lips along her hairline as she moved
her face toward his. He placed a chaste kiss on her lips.

“I want to stop by one shop before we head back,” he
told her as he stood up from the bench, bringing her up with him. Before she
could respond he had her hand in his and was guiding her across the street. He
took her inside a cool building. Suddenly she was hit with the exotic aroma of
hundreds of flowers. He went to the counter and spoke to the clerk. A few
minutes later the clerk returned and Severus turned to Hermione.

“I need this,” he said as he gently extracted the
rose from her hair. She had forgotten that she had placed it there in the
garden. She thought about their exquisite morning in the garden, and couldn’t
wait for a repeat. She would let Severus kiss her 24/7 if she could. She had never
felt so alive, so loved.

She felt Severus take her hand once more and started
out the door of the little shop. Once outside he stopped and she felt something
being laid around her neck. His hands reached around and fastened whatever it
was. Her hand came up to fell what he just put on her. She felt a very small
glass bottle attached to a fine chain. She felt the bottle in her hand and
realized that there was a flower in it. She smiled and faced Severus
expectantly.

“I took the rose and charmed it to never wilt or
die. I bought a vase to keep it in. It’s shrunk so you can wear a constant
reminder of this morning,” he said hopefully.

“I love it, Severus. It’s wonderful.” She lifted the
miniscule flower to her nose. “It smells like it did when you picked it.”

“Hmm-hmm.” Was all he could say. He was afraid that
if he opened his mouth, he would say something that would ruin what was
happening between them. He couldn’t tell her his true feelings yet, no matter
how much he wanted to. It would surely scare her off.

They walked around Hogsmeade for a while longer.
Neither said much of anything, neither one needing to. They both knew what they
felt, and what was happening, but they were both scared of revealing too much
and putting the heart out on their sleeve.

After the third time around the square Severus asked
if Hermione was ready to go back to the castle. She nodded and they started off
down the well-worn path back to Hogwarts. When they reached the main entrance,
Severus looked up to find Albus standing there, eyes twinkling.

“Severus. Hermione. How was your visit?”

“Wonderful, sir,” Hermione answered truthfully,
considering everything had been wonderful – the garden kisses, the confessions,
Severus’ opening up to her, the necklace and especially the company. Hermione
wasn’t going to let Sirius’ explosion take away from everything else she had
experienced in the last couple of hours.

“Yes, well. Lunch has just ended but I am sure the
house elves would be happy to arrange a tray and take it to your rooms. By the
way Miss Granger, we took the liberty of moving your chambers from Gryffindor
Tower down to the prefects rooms on the main floor. That way, the only stairs
you need to use would be the small staircase leading to the dungeons. And I am
sure that Severus would be happy to escort you there, when you resume your
research.”

Severus glared at the headmaster and his incessant
twinkle. Damned the man. Could you not get away with anything in this bloody
castle? Severus thought as he grasped Hermione’s arm and led her inside. “I
will let Albus take you to your rooms while I get a tray from the kitchens. I
will meet you shortly.”

Hermione half expected him to kiss her, at least on
the cheek. She was disappointed when he walked off, leaving her with the
headmaster. “Give him time, Hermione. He is not used to this and is so habitual
in his attitude, he does not know how to handle it. I don’t doubt that he has
feelings for you, but public displays are not his style.” She nodded as she let
the old man take her arm and lead her to her new quarters.