A Crown of Thorns

**DISCLAIMER** All characters etc. belong to J.K. Rowling and I am making no money from this. Don’t sue because I’m sure that I don’t have anything that you’d want anyway. The basic plot for the story was a challenge presented by ArienAstera.


Chapter Thirteen – The Man of Her Dreams?

Hermione snuggled further into the warmth of her bed and squeezed her eyes shut, trying desperately to block out the sunlight that was slowly creeping across the room. She pulled the covers up over her head, but even that wasn’t going to help. Her mind had been racing all night as she replayed the events of the previous evening over and over.

Following her lead and playing the ever obedient Death Eater, Professor Snape had told Voldemort that because he had been summoning them less frequently, he had become extremely concerned for his well being. (Hermione snorted at the thought) At first Voldemort had looked thoroughly unconvinced, but Hermione had chimed in, stating that it was very possible for someone who was looking in from the outside, to think that Lucius could be planning to harm him in some way. After all, we all know how quick Lucius Malfoy is to plunge a knife into even his closest friend’s back. Voldemort wanted to know why, on the eve tha that he had voiced his concerns about there being a traitor, Snape hadn’t spoken up?

Snape had responded quickly, saying that he didn’t feel comfortable making accusations about a fellow Death Eater until he had some sort of evidence to present. He had continued on, telling Voldemort about all of the failed tracking charms he had cast to locate his whereabouts and explaining that he had finally decided to use the polyjuice potion. Once he had seen that all was well, he was goto uto use a memory charm on Malfoy, but of course, it had been foolish of him to think that he could deceive the Dark Lord. (Hermione snorted again, thinking that it wasn’t that damn hard).

After much protesting from Lucius, and a few harsh words between the two old friends, Voldemort had reluctantly agreed to spare Snape’s life. He made it clear that he was not thoroughly convinced of Snape’s innoceny thy the explanations given for his actions, but since Hermione had faith in his loyalty, and he had faith in Hermione, he was going to give Snape a chance to prove himself by becoming Hermione’s personal potions teacher.

When they were finished, Hermione had led Snape up to a spare bedroom in her wing of the castle and told him to get some rest and she would be by later to check on him, but when she had returned, he was already fast asleep.


Climbing out of bed and pulling on a dressing gown, Hermione made her way down the hall and slipped quietly into the spare bedroom. Silently, she crept over to the large four-poster bed to see if Professor Snape was still sleeping. He lay there, on his back with his eyes shut and his chest was moving rhythmically with each breath.
Carefully sitting on the edge of the bed, Hermione curiously studied the man lying before her. He wasn’t the most attractive man by conventional standards. In fact, it would be safe to say that most people considered him downright ugly. But Hermione was seeing something different. She was seeing the very same man that she saw in her dreams. She noticed that he had long, thick eyelashes that just barely brushed the tops of his cheeks, and his hair, despite its oily appearance, was really very thick and silky. His nose was…well, his nose was just large and beak-like, but she realized that when his lips weren’t twisted into a nasty sneer, they were actually quite full and soft looking. Tentatively, she reached out a hand and ran her fingers gently along his jaw, letting her mind wander to the visions that had plagued her sleep for so many nights.

Startling Hermione slightly, he rolled onto his side so that his back was to her and her eyes wandered to where the thin sheet had slipped, exposing his naked torso. Hermione had never noticed before, probably because he always covered himself from neck to toe with those ridiculous bat-like robes, but he was really quite broad and muscular. Not muscular in a bulky sort of way, more compact and lean, and his pale skin was a stark contrast to the black hair that now fell across his bare shoulder. Hermione began to feel a familiar ache slowly spreading through her body. It was the same feeling that woke her so often from her dreams, and she had to fight an insatiable urge to slide under the covers with him. Snapping herself back to reality she rose carefully as not to disturb him and turned to leave, knowing that the feelings she was having were not right.

“Good morning Miss Granger.”

She stopped, halfway to the door, and turned back to him, “Professor? Did I wake you?”

He rolled back over so that he was facing her and propped himself up on one elbow, treating her to a nice view of his bare chest, which she noted had a light dusting of fine black hair that trailed down below his navel. She suppressed a shudder as she imagined what lay at the end of that trail.

Caught a bit off guard as he noticed her eyes sweeping over him appreciatively, he maintained his composure and smirked, “Yes, Miss Granger, you did wake me, but it’s quite alright. I suppose there are worse ways to be woken up than by having a young lady sneak into your bedroom.”

Knowing that he had seen her looking at him, she felt her face grow warm and pulled her dressing gown around her a bit tighter, huffing indignantly, “For your information, I was not sneaking into your bedroom. I was concerned about your condition after what happened last evening and I simply wanted to check and see if you were feeling better.”

“And…?” He felt the corners of his mouth twitching and had to fight back a smile. He always did enjoy provoking Gryffindor’s resident know-it-all.

“And what?” she snapped, quickly losing her patience.

“And…in your expert medi-witch opinion, am I feeling better?”

Bastard. She knew that there was no point in attempting to be civil to him, once a git, always a git.

She took a deep breath before speaking, in an attempt to keep the anger out of her voice, “You will find that your belongings have already been sent for, I hope that you have everything that you will need to be comfortable.” She paused for a moment, suddenly feeling very responsible for his current predicament and felt a knot of guilt begin to twist in the pit of her stomach. She looked up at him barely meeting his gaze, “Professor…” she began, “I’m so sorry-”

Severus saw the look of guilt flash across her face and the tears that were threatening to fall. He cut her off abruptly, not particularly eager to deal with a crying girl first thing in the morning, “Miss Granger, I made a choice to come here, looking for you, and I was well aware of the risks. Please, no apologies are necessary. Now, if you’ll excuse me…” He stood up, wrapping the sheet around his waist and walked over to the wardrobe, looking at her over his shoulder, “I believe that we have a laboratory to set up. I’ll meet you in the library in one hour.”

~~~~

Hermione sat in the library, poring over one of the several apothecary catalogs that Voldemort had made available to them. He had told her that anything they needed would be procured for them by Lucius, they simply would have to draft a list of supplies.

The door to the library opened and she looked up to see Severus enter, dressed in his usual teaching robes. He joined her in front of the fire and they sat together for the next few hours preparing an extensive list of the necessary items. When they were finished, Hermione took their list and found Voldemort in his private study where he looked pleased to see her so early.

“Good morning my dear, have you finished already?” he asked with a hint of surprise, noticing the parchment she was clutching.

She greeted him with a warm smile and sauntered over to join him on the couch, knowing that this was one conversation she would need to start off on the right note.

“Good morning my Lord,” She nodded and handed him the parchment, “I believe that this is all we will need for now.”

He quickly scanned the list and raised one eyebrow, “Is Lucius going to be able to obtain all of these items easily?”

“Well, I was thinking, if you would allow me,” She looked at him, her brown eyes wide with hope, “I would like to go with him.”

Voldemort carefully studied the young witch beside him and after what felt like an eternity to Hermione, he spoke, “You realize, of course, that Severus will have to stay here while you are gone?”

She nodded and Voldemort continued, “I will summon Lucius so that you can leave this afternoon.”

She was barely able to contain her excitement as she spoke, “Thank you, my Lord, I’ll go gather my things. Please let me know when Lucius arrives.”

~~~~

“He’s letting you do what?” Snape asked incredulously.

She was breathless with her excitement, “He’s letting me go with Lucius, don’t you understand what this means?” She lowered her voice to a whisper, “I can contact Dumbledore and let him know where we are and that we’re still alive. This is it, this is our chance.”

He watched her rushing around the room, throwing things into a large tote and carefully weighed his next words before speaking, “Hermione, listen to me, this is your way out. Take it and don’t look back.”

She poked her head out of the closet and met his gaze with fiercely narrowed eyes, “What did you just say?”

“Don’t be daft. You heard perfectly well what I said.” He sneered at her in an attempt to make her decision easier, “You are more than capable of incapacitating Malfoy, hell, do us all a favor and just finish the bastard off why don’t you? You are a powerful witch Hermione, and with the Order’s help, there is no doubt in my mind that you will be able to finally defeat Lord Voldemort. Don’t come back here.”

“But what about you?” she asked quietly.

“What about me?”

“I can’t leave you here, once he realizes what I’ve done, he’ll kill you.”

He rolled his eyes and blasted her with all of his usual nastiness, “Are you really that stupid? He’s going to kill me anyway. What did you think he was going to let me go about my merry way once I have finished teaching you? Sorry to disillusion you, but that’s not the way things work around here. Besides which, when I left to come find you, I wasn’t expecting it to be a round trip.”

Hermione walked over to where Severus was standing until she was face to face with him. Actually, it was more like face to chest as he towered over her, but she stood on her tip toes, placed her hands on her hips and hissed, “If you think that I am going to leave you here to die, than perhaps you’re the stupid one.”

Snape looked down and saw the determination in her eyes and knew that he was fighting a losing battle. She was, after all, a Gryffindor, and that unwavering determination had always been something that he had admired about her, but now he found it to be altogether annoying. He couldn’t let her risk this opportunity for him.

A loud knock at the door startled them both.

She backed away from Severus and went to open the door, finding Lucius Malfoy on the other side.

He greeted Hermione with a snarl, “Are you ready? Nev Never one to pass up an opportunity to irritate Lucius, she smiled at him cheerfully, causing him to become even more annoyed than he already was.

“Good day to you as well Malfoy. You don’t look well, is something bothering you?”

Lucius puffed himself up in an unsuccessful attempt to look intimidating, “You know as well as I do that there is no need for you to accompany me. I don’t know what you’re playing at Granger, but I’m warning you, you better watch your step. Let’s go.” He barked, turning on his heel and sweeping off down the hall in all of his arrogant glory.

Hermione quickly stuffed a few last things into her tote and minimized it to fit snugly into the pocket of her cloak.

She walked back over to Severus and looked at him earnestly.

“Hermione-” he began, but she caught him completely off guard by leaning up to kiss him softly oe che cheek.

“I will be back for you, I promise.” She whispered.

And before he had a chance to reply, she was gone.